By Robert Goldrich

In this week’s e.dition, SHOOT wraps its two-part coverage of ad agency feedback assessing the creativity–or lack thereof–contained in this year’s Super Bowl spot crop. Ironically, advertising that would have upgraded the field has had to stay on the sidelines in recent years–namely the continuing “What Happens Here Stays Here” campaign from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

    In 2003, the campaign debuted, directed by Bryan Buckley of bicoastal/international Hungry Man for R&R Partners, Las Vegas. This included the clever “Mistress of Disguise,” which opened on a hot-to-trot woman getting into the back of a stretch limousine for a ride to the airport. Even the street-smart chauffeur raises his eyebrow in reaction to the images in his rearview mirror and the sounds emanating from the backseat. The limo partition is then raised, leaving her backseat exploits to our imaginations.

Upon arrival at the airport, the driver opens the limo door for his passenger. She has changed into a conservative business suit and is on her cell phone, talking with a proper British accent. The now familiar tagline appears–“What happens here, stays here”–underscoring that you can live out your fantasies in Vegas and then leave them before returning to your normal daily life.

Unfortunately the catch-line also applies to what happened to the ad. It was left behind and didn’t get to move on to its intended destination: the Super Bowl.  The NFL–not ABC-TV, which had the Big Game that year–turned thumbs-down on the commercial for the Super Bowl telecast. A spokesman for the NFL stated at the time, “The league office decided that the commercial was not in our best interest.”

In ’04, R&R came out with “Big Game,” which combined an exterior shot of the Vegas strip complemented by supered copy promoting the town as an exciting place to join with other fans to catch not only the Super Bowl but also other events year-round. Again, the NFL denied “Big Game” inclusion in the Big Game telecast. But R&R did an end-run and bought time in major local markets on CBS stations for Super Sunday exposure.

This year, R&R came back with “Punch Drunk,” and its “What happens here stays here” theme. Unfortunately, the déjá vu also included the NFL blocking the ad from being on the Super Bowl telecast and then upping the ante, reportedly trying to get FOX affiliates and owned-and-operated stations not to make airtime available during the Big Game or in pre- or post-game coverage. But the individual market strategy worked once more for R&R, which saw “Punch Drunk”–directed by Jim Jenkins of Hungry Man–air in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Dallas, Boston and Philadelphia, similar to the Super Bowl buy the agency executed in ‘ 04 with CBS.

The gritty “Punch Drunk” shows a prizefighter in the locker room after a bout that has left him bloodied and disoriented. His trainer makes his way through a crowd to see his boxer and check out his condition. The trainer holds up two fingers and asks the fighter to tell him how many fingers he sees. The response: “Four.” The boxer goes on to admit he doesn’t know what city he’s in and he doesn’t remember what he did last night. The trainer then asks, “Do you remember what I did last night?” The fighter says no, eliciting a smile from the trainer, who proclaims his guy is alright, not to worry. The parting shot is the supered message against a black background, “What happens here stays here.”

The Super Bowl is reportedly the most heavily wagered upon sporting event in the world. Suffice it to say that a decent amount of interest in the NFL is based on betting, such as that which takes place in office pools. The weekly injury reports released by the NFL and point spreads help to fuel interest and influence the betting decisions made by professional and non-pro bettors. Still the NFL wants to distance itself from gambling, having maintained a longstanding policy against ads that make reference to or mention of sports betting. But in the case of the “What happens here stays here” spots, there is no such mention. Apparently in this case the identity of the advertiser is enough to prompt a ban from the NFL, a policy which is ill advised, if not hypocritical.

While gambling is a big part of Vegas, the R&R campaign is designed to promote tourism. Vegas survives off of tourism, right down to the cab drivers and hotel industry workers. With state budgets facing huge deficits, tourism has arguably become more critical to the economy than ever. Indeed the R&R message is deserving of the advertising industry’s biggest stage.

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