Role: EP, D and Ed
The Ask: Create video content that helps make Nivea Men part of someone’s daily routine.
My Role: Executive Producer, Director, Co-Writer, Editor
The Challenges: Professional athletes have some of the most intense daily rituals and pre-game superstitions. As spring training started in 2016, the Chicago Cubs looked to be a favorite to win their first World Series in 108 years. Many Cubs fans believed the championship drought continued because of a curse. They developed routines and superstitions in an attempt to finally win. The Cubs were led by rising star Anthony Rizzo. The account team hired Rizzo as a Nivea Men spokesperson to discover Cubs fans clean start rituals in a man-on-the-street video filmed during spring training. Nivea Men wanted it to be funny.
The creative director, copywriter and I came up with a list of humorous questions for Rizzo to ask. Anthony Rizzo is a hall of famer. In baseball. Not comedy. I felt relying on him to be funny with fans was a big ask. He could be a good sidekick (like Kimmel/Guillermo, Conan/Andy Richter or Fallon/Questlove) but not the lead. So, we brought in a comedian to lead and facilitate the interactions. Asking what rituals, superstitions and lengths would they go to bring the Cubs a championship.
How would Nivea Men fit into all of this? Organically? To boost the comedic opportunities, we came up with a series of stunts/skits. The fact that playoff beards play a big part in sports superstitions would give us our solution.
The Results: The video amassed over 1MM views, surpassing the goal by 3X. The video also had a lower CPV than the client’s historical average. And the... Cubs Win! Cubs Win! They win the World Series, breaking the curse.
