ESPN’s ads are a slam dunk..or any other sports metaphor!(homerun, touchdown, etc..)

I must preface this blog by saying that I am a huge sports fan.  SportCenter is the first thing I look for when I turn on the TV.  That being said, this blog may come with a little bias, I hope that everyone can accept that and hopefully forgive me. 

ESPN has always had good ads.  They’re funny, irreverant, silly and sometimes witty.  I will say that half of the reason why I am permitted by my better half to watch ESPN so much is because of their ads.  And when I say “their” I mean ESPN’s commercials made for ESPN, not the ads for other companies. 

One of the possible reasons for my finding these ads so endlessly entertaining would probably be that I watch so much.  I am familiar with the characters in the ad, and that means I enjoy them that much more.  I think this applies to the use of celebrities or characters in TV advertising.  Brands use celebrities to rep their products because they are familiar.  

So I will present to you some of my favorite ESPN commercials.  Starting with one that features Mr. Shaquille O’Neal.

 

If you are a fan of Shaq, you know he loves to play off of his name.  If you don’t know Shaq you will just assume he is being a goofball and the spot will still be funny. 

Here is another great ad that features Carolina Panthers wide reciever Steve Smith and Seattle’s own Kenny Mayne.

 

I don’t have any sort of analysis for this one, I just think its funny.  It has a cartoon-like quality about it with Steve Smith showing up at Kenny’s cubicle, and then in the next second he’s back down by he water cooler.  I’ve always wondered how they shot this, it looks so seamless. 

I guess I didn’t really have a point for this blog.  I just really like ESPN’s ads.  The point could be that humor is an effective way to make ads stand out.  I’m not really sure.  I apologize for this blog post.  I just wanted to express my feelings (love) for these ads.

Here’s one for the road.

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