Colts QB Peyton Manning and Giants QB Eli Manning will “star” in a DirecTV marketing campaign with a plot featuring the brothers and their father Archie "battling a city's underworld with spirals instead of bullets,” according to Kevin Armstrong of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. The first spot, called “
Football Cops,” was “created as a piece of content that would attract viewers and introduce them to a new package DirecTV is running promoting its Sunday Ticket football package.” The 2:38 clip Thursday “gained traction, bringing in enough interest for ‘Football Cops’ to trend on Twitter.” DirecTV Senior VP/Advertising & Communications Jon Gieselman said, "Our intent was to bring people in by creating a clever video that could go viral" (
NYDAILYNEWS.com, 6/24). In Indianapolis, Scott Thien noted the spot by late Friday had “65,000 hits since it was uploaded on YouTube” last Tuesday and is “prefaced with a warning that it is intended for mature audiences and that viewers discretion is advised” (
INDYSTAR.com, 6/24).
MIXED REACTION: NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger said, “That’s a bad B movie right there.” He added of the Manning brothers, “They don’t make bad commercials” (“NFL Total Access,” NFL Network, 6/23). ESPN’s Jim Rome said, “Am I the only one who wishes this was a real show?” (“Jim Rome Is Burning,” ESPN, 6/23). ESPN’s Michael Wilbon said, “This one with Peyton, his brother and his father all in it, there’s some funny moments, but it goes on too long. It’s a little overwrought” (“PTI,” ESPN, 6/23). ESPN.com’s Paul Kuharsky wrote, “Clearly I am no advertising expert, but how this sells satellite TV subscriptions is beyond me” (ESPN.com, 6/22).
