DirecTV to Rabid NFL Fans: 'Never Miss a Moment' with Sunday Ticket

Brandweek, July 24, 2000 by Terry Lefton

DirecTV breaks a $10 million-plus campaign for its burgeoning Sunday Ticket pay TV service in early August that follows a recent sports marketing trend of shying away from athletes as spokesmen/heroes, instead relying on fan-focused creative to tap into the emotional side of sports.

The new work from Deutsch, LA., uses a style derivative of NFL Films, in which a voiceover rhetorically examines fans' dedication to the NFL. Sample copy: "Maybe it's not whether our superstitions work, but that we believe in something strongly enough to have them."

Some of the NFL's top stars, like Doug Flutie and Brett Favre, are shown in the ads that mix exciting game action with the emotional response of fans watching on TV. The new tagline, "Never Miss a Moment," underscores another objective: to communicate the basics of the Sunday Ticket package.

"Some fans told us they thought Sunday Ticket meant they got one more game each Sunday," said Jayne Hancock, vp-sports marketing. Actually, the $169 satellite package gives fans every Sunday NFL game.

Four 30-second ads air Aug. 3 and run for six weeks on network, including preseason NFL games on Fox and CBS, cable and syndicated buys. Radio ads hit national sportstalk nets, with print runs in Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, USA Today and papers in NFL cities.

Deutsch's Sunday Ticket work is on a project basis as DirecTV is staging a review for its $65 million account, which was at Campbell Ewald L.A. for the past three years.

DirecTV is in the fourth of a five-year NFL deal, giving it exclusive U.S. rights to show Sunday games via satellite. Given the NFL's recent fee hike for broadcast rights, a 209% growth in DirecTV's subscriber base since 1996, the clamor from competing pay TV services and competition from broadband, renewal talks are apt to be interesting.