In the aftermath of season one (Pennsylvania/New Jersey high school football) and season two (Detroit hockey), REPLAY season 3 (high school basketball) on Fox Sports Net sees TBWAChiatDay, Los Angeles, and Gatorade team up with Chicago-born, hip-hop icons Common, Lupe Fiasco, Jennifer Hudson and No I.D. to create an anthem to their hometown. The song is titled “We Can Do It Now.” The song is based on the REPLAY themes of “redemption,” “second chances” and “going back in time.” According to Grammy-award-winning producer NO I.D., “It’s what a team, a crowd or stadium would want to hear when they’re in that sports mind frame.”
To bolster awareness of the track, Gatorade and TBWAChiatDay went in the studio with the artists to create a three-minute video inspired by the track. The video premiered at the end of the season 3 documentary, which aired this past weekend (11/7) nationally on Fox Sports Net. In addition to the video, a “making of” video was created and shared online.
For a limited time, “We Can Do It Now” is available as a free download at REPLAYtheSeries.com.
TBWAChiatDay and Gatorade created REPLAY to restage classic games that ended in controversy–offering athletes a second chance for redemption some 10 to 15 years later. Gatorade reunites the original teammates and provides them with an eight-week training and nutrition program created by the Gatorade Sports Science Institute and the Gatorade Training Council. REPLAY offers athletes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get back in peak shape and replay their game to settle the score once and for all.
Season 3 of REPLAY features two South Side Chicago high school basketball teams–the Bloom Township Trojans and the Brother Rice Crusaders. The two teams reunited to replay a game from 2000 that ended with a buzzer-beater that many believe didn’t beat the buzzer. That game, which decided who would go “downstate” to play in the Elite 8, was shrouded in controversy for over a decade. The game was played on September 10, 2010. Dwyane Wade and Dwight Howard joined as assistant coaches for the respective reunited teams.
Jimmy Smith, group creative director, TBWAChiatDay, L.A., said, “We’re always thinking about ways to create and expand any and every platform for G. And REPLAY is at the top of the list. Lord willing, it’ll just get bigger and deffer.”
As for the song, TBWAChiatDay creative director Brent Anderson related, “The goal of this track is one of many attempts to move REPLAY into pop culture. We wanted to create something that athletes would like, share, workout to or listen to before their own big game.
And agency creative director Steve Howard said, “If you would have told me three months ago that Common, Lupe Fiasco, Jennifer Hudson and No I.D. were going to join forces to create a hip-hop anthem for REPLAY season 3, I would have said you’re crazy. Now all I can think is, ‘What’s next?'”
Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey Launch Production House 34North
Executive producers Ron Cicero and Bo Clancey have teamed to launch 34North. The shop opens with a roster which includes accomplished directors Jan Wentz, Ben Nakamura Whitehouse, David Edwards and Mario Feil, as well as such up-and-coming filmmakers as Glenn Stewart and Chris Fowles. Nakamura Whitehouse, Edwards, Feil and Fowles come over from CoMPANY Films, the production company for which Cicero served as an EP for the past nearly five years. Director Wentz had most recently been with production house Skunk while Stewart now gains his first U.S. representation. EP Clancey was freelance producing prior to the formation of 34North. He and Cicero have known each other for some 25 years, recently reconnecting on a job directed by Fowles. Cicero said that he and Clancey “want to keep a highly focused roster where talent management can be one on one--where we all share in the directors’ success together.” Clancey also brings an agency pedigree to the new venture. “I started at Campbell Ewald in accounts, no less,” said Clancey. “I saw firsthand how much work agencies put in before we even see a script. You have to respect that investment. These agency experiences really shaped my approach to production--it’s about empathy, listening between the lines, and ultimately making the process seamless.” 34North represents a meeting point--both literally and creatively. Named after the latitude of Malibu, Calif., where the idea for the company was born, it also embraces the power of storytelling. “34North118West was the first GPS-enabled narrative,” Cicero explained. “That blend of art and technology, to captivate an audience, mirrors what we do here--create compelling work, with talented people, harnessing state-of-the-art... Read More