ESPN will take athletes from the Great Outdoor Games presented by Dodge and present them as superheroes who make up “The Outdoor League of America” in a campaign supporting this year’s Great Outdoor Games event, scheduled July 8-11 from Madison, Wisconsin. The campaign was created by the Atlanta-based ad agency Brighthouse Live.
“The plan is to elevate how amazing the events and competitors are by showcasing their talents via superheroes,” said Lee Ann Daly, ESPN executive vice president, marketing. “The campaign promotes the Great Outdoor Games by highlighting its athletes and their amazing skills.”
Among the athletes featured are Terry Casey (with his dog Skeeter as Sky Boy), Mike Sullivan (as Dr. Lumber), Lance Egan (as SuperFly), Abby Hoeschler (as The Roller), Darren Collins (as Captain Deadeye), Bryan Schulz (as Spikes) and Nancy Zalewski (as Sawdust).
The four, 30-second spots, filmed in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles National Forest and a Disney Studio lot, were shot in a retro fashion with treated film to achieve a Technicolor feel, reminiscent of the superhero shows of yester year. Through the superhero theme, viewers are given a glimpse into how exceptional the events and competitors are. All of the spots end with the tag-line, “Superstars? No, Superheroes.”
The spots are:
- “Meet the Outdoor League” – Introduces the heroes: Captain Deadeye (archer), The Roller (log roller), SuperFly (fly fishing), Dr. Lumber (axe, timber events), Sawdust (chainsaw specialist), Spikes (speed climbing) and Sky Boy (big air dog).
- “Into the Wild Blue Yonder” – Sky Boy (a dog with a cape) sprints ahead and toward a lake, where a young boy is alone and standing dangerously close to the end of a dock. The boy is reaching for his frisbee, but before anything bad can happen, Sky Boy charges past the boy, leaps high in the air and lands inches from the frisbee.
- “Up Above” – A kindly loveable grandmother type loses her kitten. Her cat is stuck on top of a telephone pole. Spikes sprints nimbly up a 70-foot telephone to rescue the poor kitty up on top.
- “Bug Out!” – The Litter Bug has just busted out of prison and drives down the road in an old Gremlin with smoke billowing out of the exhaust, while he throws food wrappers out of the window. Sawdust chops trees with her chainsaw in front of and behind Litter Bug to impede his progress as Captain Deadeye deflates the car’s tires with his arrows. The entire Outdoor League of America surrounds the Litter Bug as they walk menacingly towards him.
In addition to the spots airing on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPNEWS, the campaign will appear in ESPN The Magazine and will be heard on ESPN Radio.
Great Outdoor Games
Top outdoor athletes from around the world compete for entry into the ESPN Great Outdoor Games. The ultimate championship of outdoor sports features one-of-a-kind, head-to-head competition in timber and target events, sporting dogs, and fishing. While entertaining large crowds on site, the ESPN Great Outdoor Games will be telecast for a worldwide television audience on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports beginning July 14.
