ESPN's "This Is SportsCenter" is among the handful of classic sports ad
campaigns of all time. Launched in 1995 by Wieden + Kennedy in New York,
the campaign—originally inspired by the mockumentary This Is Spinal
Tap—hasn't changed much over the years. And why would it? You don't mess
with a winning formula.
The premise of the ads, as we've noted before, is
that ESPN's Bristol, Conn., offices are the center of the sports
universe—a surreal yet mundane fantasy world where athletes and mascots
live and work together with anchors and journalists. Where other
marketers portray athletes as superhuman, "This Is SportsCenter"
presents them as comically, relatably human. Eighteen years and more
than 400 spots later, the campaign continues.
As part of the Adweek story linked above, W+K drew up a list of its 10
favorite SportsCenter ads. Now, ESPN has one-upped its agency—devoting a
whole special to its 50 favorite SportsCenter spots of all time. The
show, airing this Thursday at 8 p.m. ET and hosted by Jason Sudeikis,
will feature anecdotes and stories about the top 50, and fans are
encouraged to vote for their favorite spot over on Facebook.Sudeikis will announce the winning spot on the show. (More than 1 million votes have been cast so far.)
Check out the program on Thursday, and click the link below for a sneak
peek at ESPN's official top 10 favorite "This Is SportsCenter"
commercials.
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