This spot opens with a reporter posing a typical spring training question to Oakland A’s manager Ken Macha, who’s standing in the team dugout: "Who’s going to be your opening day starting pitcher?"
Macha looks off into the distance as if contemplating his choice. While the manager is clearly daydreaming, the reality is that he has quite a trio of top-line pitchers from which to choose: Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. All three are ace hurlers deserving of baseball’s opening day honor.
Looking to get an edge, each pitcher takes it upon himself to do some not-so-soft selling to Macha. Actually it’s not so much a soft sell as it is bribery.
In the clubhouse, Mulder asks Macha if he’s dropped his wallet. The pitcher hands him a billfold stuffed with money.
Zito then approaches Macha in the dugout and presents him with a plane ticket—to Maui.
Hudson then makes his pitch. He asks Macha if he misplaced the keys to a brand new Hummer, then hands over the keys.
As the daydream ends, Macha responds to the off-camera reporter: "Hudson, definitely Hudson."
The spot then cuts to a sign, which reminds us that regular season’s opening day is April 5 in Oakland. Next we see the A’s logo accompanied by the slogan, "A Different Brand of Baseball."
We return to the baseball field, where Macha gives us the thumbs-up sign—from behind the wheel of a Hummer.
Randy Hackett of Washington Square Films, New York, directed "Opening Day" and six other spots in the A’s 2004 campaign for McCann-Erickson, San Francisco. The agency creative team included chief creative officer Jeff Huggins, chief creative director Kevin Moehlenkamp, associate creative director/art director Kevin Gammon, group creative director/copywriter Michael Bettendorf and executive producer Ed Galvez.
Josh Blum executive produced for Washington Square Films, with Nick Bandouveris serving as producer. The DP was Welles Hackett.
Christa Lamperti of FilmCore, San Francisco, edited "Opening Day," as well as "Screaming Girls." The balance of the commercials were cut by FilmCore’s Tim Fender. Assistant editor was Nikki Winig. Online editor/Inferno artist was Alaina Goetz of nTropic, San Francisco; Heather Gibbons produced for nTropic. Mike Pethel of Company 3, Santa Monica, was the colorist, with Denise Brown serving as producer. Audio engineer was Andy Greenberg of One Union Recording Studios, San Francisco. John McGleenan was producer for One Union.
