Tying into college basketball fever and building on its long running Visigoths campaign while stepping up its branded entertainment push, Capital One, a corporate partner for the NCAA, introduces us to The Ivan Brothers, two larger than life Viking-like characters who are recruited by fictional East Western State University’s basketball team and then take a perennially losing program into the Big Dance, a.k.a. the NCAA College Basketball Tournament.
Agency DDB Chicago not only called on the make believe Ivan Brothers but also another, this time real-world brother duo to bring their creation to life–directorial team The Hoffman Brothers (Matt and Mark) of harvest, Santa Monica.
A pair of tongue-firmly-in-cheek TV spots set the stage. “Coaches” features famous college basketball coaches–from Roy Williams to Tubby Smith, Tom Izzo and Danny Manning–praising the overpowering, scary basketball talents of The Ivan Brothers.
In “Selection Show,” CBS Sports anchor Set Davis announces West Eastern State’s bid to the NCAA Tournament–mimicking the actual Selection Sunday show. A camera shows us “live” the celebratory reaction of the East Western team and its coaching staff.
Both commercials drive us to the web (theivanbrothers.com) for the humorous yet somehow charming, authentic-feeling backstory–East Western’s track record of futility (65 consecutive losses), the coach’s offbeat recruiting trip made possible by Capital One’s Venture Card air mileage points, and the sojourn’s payoff, the discovery of The Ivan Brothers in a remote backwoods community. The coach and his assistant teach The Ivan Brothers how to play basketball, turning their raw athletic talent into on-the-court dominance.
The Ivan Brothers campaign–including the backstory short titled The Ivans–debuted around the time tournament bracketology madness began and is running into the NCAA tournament, which opened Thursday (3/18).
The campaign is already generating considerable buzz and audience. As coach (and former NCAA championship player) Manning observed in the “Coaches” spot, “It’s hard to defend guys who are used to storming castles.”
An excerpt from the short accompanies this story. Log onto theivanbrothers.com to see the entire film.
Alec Baldwin Urges Judge To Stand By Dismissal Of Involuntary Manslaughter Case In “Rust” Shooting
Alec Baldwin urged a New Mexico judge on Friday to stand by her decision to skuttle his trial and dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
State District Court Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer dismissed the case against Baldwin halfway through a trial in July based on the withholding of evidence by police and prosecutors from the defense in the 2021 shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the film "Rust."
The charge against Baldwin was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it can't be revived once any appeals of the decision are exhausted.
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey recently asked the judge to reconsider, arguing that there were insufficient facts and that Baldwin's due process rights had not been violated.
Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer on "Rust," was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal when it went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza. Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the revolver fired.
The case-ending evidence was ammunition that was brought into the sheriff's office in March by a man who said it could be related to Hutchins' killing. Prosecutors said they deemed the ammunition unrelated and unimportant, while Baldwin's lawyers alleged that they "buried" it and filed a successful motion to dismiss the case.
In her decision to dismiss the Baldwin case, Marlowe Sommer described "egregious discovery violations constituting misconduct" by law enforcement and prosecutors, as well as false testimony about physical evidence by a witness during the trial.
Defense counsel says that prosecutors tried to establish a link... Read More