By:Jon Springer
Sports marketers are all about getting fans as close to the action as possible – a folding chair behind second base and a hotel lobby turned into an impromptu soccer pitch are among the places fans are taken in this roundup of the best recent sports creative. But beware the risk of too much access, as some haggard fans discover in an amusing Tour de France campaign from cycling-mad Denmark.
See the full top 5 in sports marketing below.
Michelob Ultra
In an ad recalling the 2024 Super Bowl spot “Superior Beach,” Lionel Messi brings his footwork to “Superior Hotel,” hyping Michelob Ultra’s support of the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup and continuing its advertising theme of friendly competition. Wieden+Kennedy was behind the creative.
Michelob Ultra – Superior Hotel – 30s
Heineken 0.0
An official partner of “F1: The Movie,” Heineken’s non-alcoholic variety tells a story of moderation featuring the movie’s stars, Brad Pitt and Damson Idris, directed by “F1” director Joseph Kosinski. The spot, produced with LePub, supports Heineken 0.0’s “When Driving, or Not” message.
WNBA
League legends revisit the playgrounds where they learned their skills and literally make a new mark on them with three-point arcs painted at WNBA distances. “Line ’Em Up,” created by the WNBA and agency Joan Creative, is meant to bring the women’s league closer to communities by painting the official WNBA 3-point line (in the league’s distinct orange hue) on park basketball courts across the country.
MLB
The best seat in the house goes to Adam DeVine in a new installment of MLB’s “Baseball is Something Else” campaign. The actor and “Workaholics” comedian is embedded into game highlights alongside baseball stars including Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge and Julio Rodríguez. The effect is a close-up look at their athletic skills – a key objective for MLB as it sells the game on its action. “You Seeing This? Baseball is Something Else” comes from agency Good Sports Creative.
TV 2 Denmark
Tour de France junkies encounter harrowing travel to witness the world’s best cyclists – only to see them zoom by in a second. A better idea might be to watch the whole thing safely at home, according to an in-house campaign from TV 2 Denmark, the Scandinavian country’s official Tour de France broadcaster. TV 2 separately used outdoor advertisements hung at precise angles to visually translate the riders’ punishing ascents – 24% for Col de la Loze, 13% for Hautacam and 12% for Mont Ventoux.
