State Farm:
”Feeling’ Kinda Lebron”
We were asked to extend our "Feelin' Kinda Sunday" campaign for the NFL Playoffs in a bigger, more impactful way. Enter LeBron James, who was about to be a free agent and also happened to be a highly touted high school wide receiver.
To create some buzz we crafted the short teaser below, which aired a week ahead of the 60-second commercial and was soon re-posted all over the web, with some fans speculating that LeBron was releasing a rap album, others claiming LeBron was retiring and still others convinced that LeBron would be wrestling with WWE. Really.
But soon, the full commercial aired, ending speculation but sparking new debate about LeBron’s football skills everywhere from ESPN to Deadspin, NBC Sports and sneaker blogs like Hypebeast. An entrepreneurial store even tried to sell a fake LeBron Browns jersey online. What’s more, a year after the spot aired, USA Today felt compelled to get then Browns coach Eric Mangini’s thoughts on LeBron’s football viability — “I think he should come on down.” The Browns should have been so lucky.
Also, Alex got a wife out of it.
Some press coverage we got from ESPN's First Take and SportsCenter.
Eight years later in late 2016, it's still being talked about– this time on Bill Simmons short lived HBO show, Any Given Wednesday. Simmons said, the fictional signing of Lebron was the greatest thing to ever happen to the Cleveland Browns. The whole thing is worth a watch, but we’re mentioned at about 2:45.
All the sports and culture publications picked it up too, including ESPN, USA TODAY, NBC Sports, Deadspin and Hypebeast
Fans ever began selling knock off jerseys.
CREDITS:
AGENCY: DDB CHICAGO
GCD: John Seibert
CD: David Shih
ACD/ART DIRECTOR: Alex Zamiar
ACD/WRITER: Jonathan Richman
ACCOUNT: Veronica Carr (now Zamiar)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Liat Ebersohl
PRODUCTION COMPANY: Epoch Films
DIRECTOR: Stacy Wall