GAVIN REA
UX, Marketing Strategy & Creative Production Director
Weiden + Kennedy New York
Media Monks Amsterdam
This was a Senior Producer role, working closely with the Executive Producer and a team of internal creative and external vendors to design and build the digital elements for the ESPN’s SportCenter “Da-Da-Da, Da-Da-Da” campaign. The elements required are managing the build and deployment of the high impact digital banners, pre-roll videos of the TVC and the design and build of a customizable Admin Tool for producing XML banners and DOOH creative to a predetermined template format.
In this debut spot for the SportsCenter Brand Campaign, whenever you hear the iconic “Da-Da-Da, Da-Da-Da,” you know something amazing just happened.
This ESPN SportsCenter campaign features athletes singing the famous "DaDaDa, DaDaDa" sound that plays at the beginning of the show, reinforcing the show's association with great sporting moments. The commercial, which is by Wieden & Kennedy, New York, was directed by Jake Scott with Mike McGee as VFX supervisor and work from our New York and London teams.
ESPN has traditionally aired ads for SportsCenter, its famed highlights show, only on ESPN networks—a strategy that senior marketing director Seth Ader told Adweek last year was "a treat for our viewers to stay tuned during the commercials."
Well, now everyone's getting a treat.
A new SportsCenter campaign that broke on Saturday will air beyond ESPN properties, and takes a different approach than the deadpan "This Is SportsCenter" work, which has been widely celebrated.
The 60-second launch spot, posted below, features a range of athletes, from amateurs to pros, who sing the "DaDaDa, DaDaDa" sound that plays at the beginning of SportsCenter broadcasts—as they perform impressive feats in their particular sports.
"Fans have a strong emotional connection with the show," said Aaron Taylor, ESPN's svp of marketing. "And what we realized is that 'DaDaDa' is emotional shorthand for not only the great moments that happen in sports, but how SportsCenter presents those moments—giving context to them with perspective and personality."
Athletes featured in the ad include Chris Chester, Robert Griffin III, Kory Lichtensteiger, Will Montgomery, Alfred Morris, Tyler Polumbus, Trent Williams, Stephen Curry, Landon Donovan, Sam Gagner, Jimmie Johnson, Patrick Kane, Clayton Kershaw, Andrew McCutcheon, Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, Paul Rabil, Maria Sharapova, Bubba Watson and Russell Westbrook.
The campaign, from Wieden + Kennedy in New York, will include digital creative that will be updated over time to include timely "DaDaDa" moments.
ESPN is looking to boost the profile of SportsCenter, whose ratings have slipped slightly of late as other networks have developed similar formats.