Advertiser: ESPN
Agency: Ground Zero, Santa Monica
Challenge: Maintain the insider flavor of ESPN in spots for its ESPNews channel for sports junkies.
The Ads: In eight television commercials, a grubby sports fan calling himself "The Rick" muses about his sports memorabilia collection and his addiction to sports. In one spot, The Rick displays a basketball net covertly obtained for $15 from the grounds crew at North Carolina State. In another commercial, he shows off his sports figurines, which he insists, are "not toys, not dolls." As he plays with a racing car set in another commercial, The Rick defends his hobbies while dismissing other pastimes, such as reading Kafka, declaring the plot of "Metamorphosis" concerns a man turning into a cocker spaniel.
