BISCUITS FALLING IN THE RIGHT BASKETS FOR ESPN ADS

          For the last two years, ESPN's "This is SportsCenter"
     ad campaign "has delivered some of the freshest
     entertainment on the tube," and "just might be TV's hippest
     series" of commercials, according to Dan Snierson of
     ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY.  Wieden & Kennedy commercial creator
     Hank Perlman, who wrote many of the spots: "The best ESPN
     sportscasters are classic smart asses, so we took that as
     our cue.  We wanted to hold a mirror up to the world of
     sports and screw with it."  EW's Snierson writes that the
     80-plus spots have "nabbed several industry awards," and ads
     for other products "have echoed its deadpan verite look." 
     ESPN VP/Marketing Judy Fearing: "The goal was to make
     SportsCenter a talked about brand.  Now it's part of pop
     culture."  Snierson adds that the first 70 ads "cost under"
     $1M to produce and ESPN "plans to release at least 20 more
     ads" in the upcoming year (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, 10/24).