ESPN Ad Campaign Shows US Audiences What Euros are all About

lol, that is brutal for Italy.

kidding aside, seems like the wrong way to market a game to people who only watch once every 2-4 years. the casual north american sports fan’s biggesst crticism of soccer is the diving, whining etc. Meh, I’m not in marketing, let’s hope I’m wrong.

I agree – I’m no Italy fan, but it really does make it seem like that’s all they can do, which is unfair to their quality as well as bad for the game’s growth in the US. My favorite is the Greece one. It would be nice if the German one actually said “Germany” at some point, since the point of these is to bring in people who aren’t already going to be skipping work to watch the games.

What, you mean the Italians can do more than gesticulate? Who knew?

If you go to the YouTube page, the Germany one does actually say “Germany.” But you’re right. It won’t say that on the TV screen. Interesting stretch to think that American sports fans will recognize the tune of the German national anthem.

Posted from  United States

Dance with the Portuguese…hell yeah!

Posted from  Canada

As an avid fan of Serie A, even I found the Italian one really amusing. Nesta and Totti are the masters of the “You talkin’ to me?” face coupled with the hand gesture. That said, I’m surprised they didn’t focus on the complete badass-ness that is the Italian defense, rather than poking fun at them. Honestly, Nesta, Maldini…the talent they could have shown is endless.

Can’t wait to see what they come up with for France. I’m equal parts excited and afraid.

I like the claim they came up with for the Germany spot which has a bit of Vorsprung durch Technik to it. Probably too cold and arrogant to put it on the team bus or anything though.

You are commending them for going after an US audience but then questioning why they don’t have a FRANCE ad. Aren’t the two things mutual exclusive?

Are ye mental?The German won is the best by a mile.I think we can all agree that The Greece was is a pile of bolox

I think these are really terrible. None of them show anything spectacular about any of the teams. It seemed like the just threw together a bunch of random clips and made some kind of congealed video, especially for the Portugal and Spain ones.

It’s a nice idea to show the different styles of each team, but the Italian and Greek ones don’t even show the game being played. The Germany one is the only one that makes sense, but its poorly done as well.

I think they would have been much better off highlighting two or three magical moments from each team with some inspirational music and catchphrases for each team.

Something like “discipline” for Germany, “beauty” for Portugal, “determination” for Greece, “belief” for Spain, “teamwork/tactics” for Italy

But hey, I’m sure the people at ESPN know what sells better than I do

Btw, I get the “fury” aspect they’re trying to get across with Spain….but honestly the randomness and speed of that video just hurts my eyes

that italian one just made my day, and i love efficientness of the germans

There are just so many things one could say about the fact that the Greece one shows no players at all. Most of these things would be undeservedly mean.

Posted from  United States

I think they´re all very good in capturing the essence of the character of each team. That´s why I think they´re very good.

As a portuguese, I loved the PT clip and also the detail of the portuguese guitar in the soundtrack.
I also (it´s not ironic, honest) think the greek is very good.

Posted from  Netherlands

As a person who knows a thing or two about advertising, I think that the four commercials are fantastic. They highlight both the style of play of the teams as well as what they are well known for.

While the Italians can play a nice brand of football, they are famous for their arguing with the ref and the little things that frankly piss their opponents off, like booting the ball away from where the ref spotted a free kick against them and cheat the 10 yard distance for the wall on free kicks.

I think it’s clear what the other teams are famous for. In a country where its not usual for people to watch soccer and have no history of their own and no idea of the history or style with which other countries play the matches, these commercials give the viewer (casual viewer) an idea of what they getting themselves into when watching an Italian, Portuguese, German or Spanish match. So if they don’t like the constant chatting with the ref they’ll steer clear of those matches.

I guess it comes down to this: It allows the viewer of the commercial to come into a match with some semblance of background while giving them a snapshot of what kind of team/style a certain country fields.
Anyway, that’s my piece.

Posted from  United States

Hey, whether we are offended or not about no French ad… the ones the made were pretty good (being it’s ESPN…LOL). As far as a French ad, what do you think they are going to put? Of course they were going to make it either biased or poke fun at them. Something like

Unfortunately, they haven’t made a decision as to who will be the crews for the Euros. I interviewed JP Dellacamera early last week and he was going to be asked to do both MLS and Euro simultaneously. That along with the US National team gig. Things look towards Rob Stone being one. Adrian Healey could be number two or three. For certain there will be no Derek Rae in the booth. He will be in Austria (German speaker that he is) to cover the event.

Posted from  United States

Spain, Portugal are known for their visual flair. Italy the team that wins but also bores the viewers. Germany is like a machine. Greece is the little team that made it but has no appeal.