There’s a new sporting goods store out there—in fact, it’s The Best Damn Sports Store, Period. Here you can pick up the athlete’s paternity test, which is over "fifty percent accurate," or a Gary Payton garbage pail, which trash-talks every time the lid is flipped. And if the kids get bored on this shopping excursion, they can go for a spin on the NASCAR "Die Ride." Overlooking all of this action from inside of what looks like a package of action figures are former baseball player John Kruk, former basketball star John Salley, former NFL linebacker D’Marco Farr, anchor/sports journalist Chris Rose and actor/ comedian Tom Arnold.
Obviously, this isn’t your typical Foot Locker. It’s actually part of a new ad campaign for The Best Damn Sports Show Ever, Period, a nightly program on FOX Sports that provides a humor-based wrap-up of the day’s events in sports and is hosted by the guys in the action figures package. The three spots in the campaign—"Grand Opening"; "Buster," which features boxer Buster Douglas promoting the Grill Daddy, his version of the George Foreman Grill; and "Tonya," which has scandal-ridden ice skater Tonya Harding as the world’s most abusive cashier—weren’t created by your typical agency, either. The ads, directed by Jim Jenkins of bicoastal/international hungry man, were created in conjunction with hungry man and FOX Sports by Union, New York, a new agency opened earlier this year by partners Matt Aselton, Nelson Martinez, Randy Van Kleeck, Daryl Elliott and Michael O’Callaghan.
Aselton, Martinez and Van Kleeck met while the latter two were senior partners/creative directors at Young & Rubicam (Y&R), New York. Aselton, a Y&R copywriter at the time, later became a creative director there. Prior to forming Union, Van Kleeck and Martinez served a brief stint at Deutsch New York, as senior VPs/creative directors. Aselton left Y&R earlier this year. Elliott was most recently director of new business, worldwide, at Y&R. O’Callaghan, a childhood friend of Van Kleeck’s, is experienced in new business and strategic business skills, having served as president of Fishtraveler Inc., and as senior VP/acquisitions and general counsel for Carey International. He is also a former associate special counsel to the U.S. Senate Whitewater Investigation, and was an attorney for the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), division of enforcement.
The concept behind the new shop is to offer clients advertising solutions in the form of brand-driven entertainment. Part of Union’s mission is to focus on new ways of keeping brands foremost in consumers’ minds, while at the same time utilizing more traditional forms of advertising, like the :30 or :60 spot. "I think there’s definitely a need for a new marketing product," states Martinez. "I think the agency world has been a little slow in coming to that. With TiVo or Web technology—that’s going to really put a dent in thirty seconds. And I think people—whether they be agencies, clients or production companies—who are prepared for that are going to do well."
Elliott notes that a number of agencies are exploring brand-driven content, and that clients are also moving into the arena. "A lot of people are entering into this, but I think very few are actually structured this way," she observes.
"I think every big, smart brand is questioning, ‘What’s my dollar in the traditional media world doing now?’ " she continues. "What we’re trying to go for is real consumer engagement—they choose to watch a program, or they choose to go online to look at something, so they are active participants in the message."
Elliott notes that Union is positioned to work with clients in a variety of ways. She says Union is currently in discussion with some larger ad shops about doing project work, and that the aforementioned FOX Sports campaign was a true collaboration between FOX, hungry man and Union. Van Kleeck relates that the in-house team at FOX had the concepts for the "Best Damn Sport Store," but had no scripts. FOX Sports had approached hungry man about working on the project, and the production company in turn went to the Union team with the ideas, which Van Kleeck and Martinez developed, as copywriter and art director, respectively, with Jenkins serving as director/copywriter.
Allan Broce, president of hungry man TV, explains that FOX Sports sometimes goes outside of its agency roster for project work. Having been approached about the Best Damn Sport Show Ever, Period promos, Broce, who previously had met the Union team, asked if they’d like to work on the project. "I really enjoyed working with Union," notes Broce. "As I’ve gotten to know the different people there, I really think they get it—they understand that advertising is changing, and that the line between advertising and entertainment, which has dissolved over the last few years, is creating a whole new market and opportunity for people to transform what has been traditional advertising—which is still going to remain intact."
Broce believes that the experience of the Union team should put it in a good position to succeed. "I think Union is really smart about how they are going about [setting up shop]," he points out, "because they are saying, ‘We can do [advertising] straight for our own for clients, or we can work through agencies, or through production companies.’ It’s a much blurrier world we live in, and what those guys are good at is going with the flow. My needs are going to be thirty-second spots for FOX and Pepsi, but Union can also transform those ideas into much bigger, broader marketing efforts. … They totally understand [the changing ad world], and I think that’s why they are going to be successful."
Union and hungry man are once again teaming on a FOX Sports project: a tie-in for Pepsi that will be directed by hungry man’s David Shane. Hungry man director Bennett Miller has helmed a series of promos for The National Network (TNN)—formerly The Nashville Network—that Union helped create in conjunction with TNN.
Longform work also plays a part in the Union strategy. The shop will be producing comedy segments for The Best Damn Sports Show Ever, and has a representation deal with bicoastal Anonymous Content for longform projects. "Originally, the deal was just for show ideas," explains Van Kleeck, "but we’re also working with them in terms of developing branded properties."
The creative partnership between Van Kleeck and Martinez dates back about 10 years, and most of that time was spent at Y&R. While there, the two worked on campaigns for Sony Electronics—including creating Plato, the college-aged alien who promotes Sony music technology. After leaving Y&R the pair freelanced before joining Deutsch, where they created campaigns for Domino’s Pizza and Verizon SuperPages. Aselton met Van Kleeck and Martinez in 1996 at Y&R. "I suffered under them for three years as a whipping boy," he jokes, adding, "They helped me get through the ranks at Y&R pretty quickly, and I wanted to be a part of Union." Some of Aselton’s most recent credits from Y&R include a series of spots for the NFL’s sponsorship of the United Way.
Van Kleeck relates that starting up a new ad shop was something he and Martinez had mulled over for some time. "The genesis of opening our own agency was not so much that we hate the big agency world. It was something that we felt we had to do," he explains. "We built a small group at Y&R, and worked with a small group at Deutsch, and that was what we found rewarding."
The name, Union, is a little different, too. "The idea behind it," says Matinez," is collaboration from inside and outside the world."
"We want to work with freelancers," adds Van Kleeck. "Obviously, agency people are great, but we’re going to look outside of the agency world. An artist or a painter or someone in publishing—someone with a sharp mind, who really gets it, would offer some fresh thinking."
"We’re going to live or die by on whether the model has changed," observes Martinez. "We think that clients will no longer be satisfied with the standard format of advertising—or with only that."
