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DirecTV is bringing back its bird duo Frank and Booby in its latest campaign — and this time, NFL legend Deion Sanders is tagging along.
Made together with creative agency TBWA\Chiat\Day L.A., the latest effort from the brand is marked by two spots where the renowned football coach lends his voice alongside veteran actors Steve Buscemi and Henry Winkler as Frank and Bobby.
Like previous iterations of the pigeon-lead campaign, the new spots aim to tout DirecTV's satellite-free streaming service.
Sanders' sports icon status makes him the perfect choice to catch the attention of fans and bring on the laughs.
"Crucially, he’s got a very recognizable voice—so even in pigeon form, it’s unmistakably Deion," TBWA\Chiat\Day Senior Art Director Jono Moore shares with Muse.
DirecTV CMO Vince Torres also speaks of the brand's two talking pigeons Bobby and Frank, and how America fell in love with them when they were first introduced in the brand's nationwide campaign earlier this year.
The ads were a hit, accumulating over 2.5 million views on YouTube alone.
Torres continues, saying that with Sanders in the bird lineup, they've added a "new confident and very astute bird to the flock who expresses his excitement over how DIRECTV delivers an unparalleled watching experience to sports fans."
The latest campaign from the brand and agency is a prime example of celebrity and influencer marketing.
By utilizing the popularity and icon status of Sanders, the brand can capture the hearts of sports fans and promote its satellite-free service, all while generating hype for the upcoming NFL season.
Coach Joins the Birds
Directed by Smuggler's Randy Krallman, the first 30-second spot titled "Coach" starts off with Bobby and Frank watching a family tune into DirecTV from outside their window without a single satellite in sight.
Eventually, they are joined by Coach Prime — a pigeon donning a cowboy hat — who tells them to quit squawking.
"Y'all are whining while everyone else is watching non-stop football on DirecTV!" he tells the two, staying true to his "no-BS" persona.
Sanders proceeds to give Bobby and Frank a pep talk, saying that while the family gets easy access to football, they get access to a coach like him.
The spot ends with the NFL legend hilariously ordering them to drop and give him 20 pushups.
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In a shorter 15-second spot titled "Game Plan," Bobby and Frank hover over sports fans, wondering if they'll really spend the entire day streaming college football.
"Can you blame them? They've got the biggest rivalries," one of them says before Coach butts in and asks Frank to "run a slant to the bowl of chips" and Bobby to grab the salsa.
When asked what he was going to do, Sanders responds by telling them not to question their coach, as the advert ends.
Combining birds and a popular celebrity seems to be becoming a trend with brands.
Recently, pop star Sabrina Carpenter starred with an imaginary bird to promote NBCUniversal's coverage of the Paris Olympics.
Editing by Katherine 'Makkie' Maclang
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