National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

A new Nike football campaign entitled “Fate” captures the true essence of the game by following the journeys of two top athletes from their first steps to playing in the NFL. The “Fate” commercial features San Diego Chargers All-Pro running back LaDainian Tomlinson and Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. The spots were directed by David Fincher, a renowned director whose films include Se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room and the soon to be released The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The ad traces LT and Troy’s lives from young toddlers through middle and high school and college to their careers as NFL players. All of these scenes were researched and are authentic to the lives and milestones of LT and Troy. At the end of the ad, the two compete in an NFL game.

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

LaDainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu ‘Leave Nothing’ Nike Football Commercial

National Football League Blogcast, NFL Blogcast

Expedia.com, the Official Travel Team of the NFL, kicked off “Go Like Pro,” an on and offline program connecting fans with unique travel options to and from NFL cities, and other popular destinations. The program showcases two quarterbacks — Matt Hasselbeck of the Seattle Seahawks and Jason Campbell of the Washington Redskins — providing the players’ personal travel tips on uniquely designed pages on Expedia.com. The program also highlights Expedia-exclusive travel deals for NFL cities across the country, and coming soon, a limited number of VIP vacation packages to the 2009 NFL Pro Bowl in Honolulu. Expedia announced its multiyear sponsorship as the Official Travel Team of the NFL in November 2007.

The centerpiece of the campaign is the “Go Like Pro Show,” Expedia’s national television and online advertising campaign. The tongue-in-cheek ads feature the two quarterbacks as hosts of a travel talk show. Webisodes, longer-form versions of the TV commercials, will be prominently featured on the Expedia NFL pages. Check ‘em out.

Source: Expedia.com

Post from: Every Morning Quarterback

Matt Hasselbeck Expedia Commercial

For the second year in a row, the NFL is asking fans to pick the pitch that will become its Super Bowl commercial. Rather than fans presenting ideas like last year, for the first-time ever, NFL players will be going head-to-head off-the-field with their pitches for the NFL’s Super Bowl XLII commercial.

NFL Films traveled to NFL team headquarters this fall in a customized NFL–themed tractor trailer to capture the players’ stories. Fans will have the opportunity to hear these unique tales and get an exclusive look at some of their favorite NFL players, such as:

• Patriots’ Rosevelt Colvin, who confesses he got lost on his way to the first mini-camp and arrived with two-minutes to spare drenched in sweat.
• Seahawks’ Matt Hasselbeck, who talks about the first time he received fan mail only to discover it was from someone who wanted Hasselbeck to get him an autograph from Brett Favre.
• Cowboys’ Jason Witten, who admits he neglected to bring donuts to a team meeting causing the offensive line to tie him to the goal post and pour ice on him.

The pitches will be posted on www.nfl.com/superad and 48 of them will be eligible for voting. The selected pitches will be grouped by division and fans will vote for one of six players from each division during the regular season voting round, between today and December 26. Videos from the AFC North, AFC West, NFC North and NFC West will be eligible for voting beginning today through December 12. Videos from the AFC East, AFC South, NFC East and NFC South will be eligible for voting from December 13 – December 26. The remaining videos will be posted on www.nfl.com/superad in the Video Sidelines section.

The “Super Ad: Who Wants It More?” playoff round begins December 27. The contenders will be narrowed down from 48 to eight, with each division represented by one story. In addition, one video from the Video Sidelines section will be included in the playoff round as the wildcard. Fans will vote for their favorite out of the nine finalists over an eleven-day period.

The winning pitch will be determined by fan vote and a panel of judges, consisting of various members of the extended NFL family in areas such as marketing, advertising and media. The playoff round voting period will run from 12/27/07 – 1/6/08.

Joe Pytka, filmmaker and award-winning director of numerous television commercials, including last year’s critically acclaimed NFL spot, will direct the commercial made from the winning pitch. The winning pitch will inspire the NFL’s commercial that will run during Super Bowl XLII on Sunday, Feb. 3 on FOX. The player who submits the winning pitch will be featured in the spot. Fans who vote may also enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip to Super Bowl XLII in Arizona.

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NFL Launches ‘Super Ad’ Promotion to Decide Super Bowl XLII Commercial