Billy Mays wants to sell you some ESPN360

Arnold today launches a pleasingly goofy campaign for ESPN360.com starring Billy Mays, the bearded infomercial guy usually seen shilling for OxiClean. See all four ads here. This genre's been parodied to death, but the ESPN spots score by being even dumber than we've come to expect. They're almost parodies of parodies, so unrelentingly stupid that they're amazingly effective. Mays is no different here than in any of his other ad gigs as he shouts exuberantly about the ESPN360 service, which lets you to watch your favorite teams online, "anywhere, anytime!" The "secret," Mays confides, is the Internet connection. In the ad below, his wife and daughter are seen with thick black beards just like his. Nice! Their grins and gestures seem forced, and their line deliveries are as insincerely sincere as possible. Now that's great bad acting! Also noteworthy is the dead-eyed office drone who robotically explains that with ESPN360, "My job is way less soul-crushing." Hey, we need ESPN360 at AdFreak! Ow, my aching soul!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Published on December 23, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under Arnold, ESPN, Gianatasio, Parody, Sports

ESPN responds to theft of its turf billboards

The other day we mentioned that thieves in NYC and elsewhere have been stealing ESPN's Monday Night Football billboards, make of real NFL turf, from bus shelters and other locations, to decorate their homes and impress their friends. Now, Wieden + Kennedy and ESPN have responded with special ads at the crime scenes, featuring police tape and comically worded warnings that karma, basically, is a bitch. (Click the image above to enlarge.) Read more over at Wizards of Weimer.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

Published on September 30, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4)
Filed under ESPN, Nudd, Outdoor, Wieden + Kennedy

Sports fan go nuts for ESPN's turf billboards

According to The New York Times, Wieden + Kennedy's three-dimensional AstroTurf-like billboards for ESPN keep getting stolen by football fans. We are simply shocked that sports fans are acting irrationally in pursuit of items with negligible value. Most of this thievery is taking place in New York (of course), where "72 of 90 bus shelter postings have been stolen and all of the 85 more traditional billboard posters have been stolen." Los Angeles and Chicago have been hit by this crime wave, too, although not as hard as the Big Apple. Authorities have been wondering what's being done with the stolen billboards. Of course, big-city apartments could always use a little more green.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Published on September 26, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (5)
Filed under ESPN, Kiefaber, Outdoor, Wieden + Kennedy