17 years, 400 spots: “This is Sportcenter”

Integrated marketing communications has at it’s corethe requirement that all representations of a brand are consistent and, uh, integrated.  AdWeek recently published an edition devoted entirely to sports marketing. Their feature, “ESPN’s Perfect Game”,  explored the 17 years of consistency in ESPN’s branding phenom, ; the “This is SportsCenter” ad campaign.

The entire campaign was built around a brand positioning that connected fans to their super celeb athletes in very down to earth scenarios.  The article notes that;  “ While Nike and every other sports marketer portrayed athletes as superhuman, ESPN presented them as absurdly yet relatably human—doing menial tasks, chatting with co-workers, enduring office life’s endless small humiliations.”

The results of W+K’s campaign is an unparalleled consistency of the same tone of irreverent and office humor undimmed by the over 400 spots.  Consistency goes beyond the tone- the dictate includes the athletes always being in uniform (mascots included), the humor is self deprecating, and the setting is always the office building.   See for yourself:

:15 Georges St-Pierre in the Octagon

:15 Arnold Palmer prepares his famous drink

:30 Landon Donovan copy machine

:30 Alexander Overchkin The Spy

Great proof that consistency can still be creative and successful!

Room for discussion

What other campaigns can you think of that have the same consistency?  What type of brands are connected to those campaigns?