Arguably the last notable use of team colors in professional sports marketing came in the late 1970s, when the Oakland A’s were baseball’s dominant team. Their colors were California gold, kelly green, wedding-gown white and Vida Blue—the latter being the name of the then phenom pitcher who took the national pastime by storm.
Well, now two of the A’s colors—green and gold—have resurfaced in another bit of nimble athletic promotion. This time it’s in the Pacific Northwest, for pro basketball’s Seattle SuperSonics, as conceived by agency WongDoody, Seattle. The Sonics’ traditional two colors have stood them in good stead—particularly in ’79, when they won the NBA championship.
"Teacher" opens on a kindergarten classroom where kids are busily finger painting. One youngster has filled her paper with a blotch of bright yellow-gold. The boy next to her is designing in a blotch of green.
The still-wet splashes of paint catch the eye of the teacher, who lapses into a reverie before suddenly dropping down to press the right side of her face into the green splotch. Then she does the same with the left side of her face, rubbing it against the gold paint. In silent bewilderment the kids watch their mentor stand, recover her composure and continue about her business—her face painted half green, half gold.
A super offers a screen-filling explanation: "GREEN & GOLD IS BACK." This is followed by the SuperSonics logo, and a phone number for ticket info.
"Teacher" is one of three colorfully themed spots for the Sonics. "Stripes" shows an elderly man in a green suit, walking home with his groceries. The sight of an oncoming truck seems to beckon him. He drops his shopping bags and heads for the street. Stiffly, but calmly, he lies down—directly in front of the truck, which is painting a bright gold centerline on the pavement. As the vehicle passes over him, he’s left with a gold streak straight up the front of his green suit.
The third ad, "Picnic," depicts a homey family gathering in the backyard. At the head of the picnic table, the mother sits down with an "O"-shaped green Jell-O mold and lifts a can of whipped topping to complete the dessert. But her focus shifts to her son, who is putting mustard on his hotdog. Grabbing the plastic bottle from him, she hesitates, then slowly begins to squeeze it over the Jell-O—round and round, and round. As if possessed, the woman accelerates her circular motion, then finally aims the flow of mustard at the hole in the center of the mold. Dumbstruck, her husband, son and young daughter stare in disbelief. She halts with a sheepish smile, as the Sonics slogan and tag fill the screen, and we hear the husband order, "OK, let’s get Mommy out of the sun."
The green-and-gold-obsession campaign was directed by Marcus McCollum of recently launched Marina del Rey, Calif.-based production company Mindfield (SHOOT, 7/6, p. 1). Jimmy Greenway was executive producer/line producer for the house. The spots were shot by DP Doug Hostetter. Production designer was Philip Duffin.
The WongDoody creative team consisted of creative director Tracy Wong, copywriter Matt McCain, art director Mark Watson, producer Brian O’Rourke and assistant producer Dax Estorninos.
The campaign was edited by Chan Hatcher of Cosmo Street Editorial, Santa Monica. Online editing was done by Fire artists George Fitz and Kirk Balden at Colorado Post, Santa Monica. Sound designer/audio mixer on "Teacher" was Tom Page of Decibel Architects, Los Angeles. Sound designer/audio mixer on "Stripes" and "Picnic" was Vince Werner of Clatter & Din, Seattle.
