Steve Price for Olympic Watches

When Clients tell me they want to use a celebrity in their television commercial there can be a brief moment of anxiety. We’ve all seen numerous examples of personalities we’ve come to know (and sometimes even love) placed into a advertising environment where suddenly all that goodwill and affection they’ve earned over the years is stripped away within 30-seconds. And it seems to happen with sports stars more than anyone else.

So when creativeBANK asked me to prepare a proposal for their new TV campaign for Olympic Watches that would feature rugby league legend, Steve Price, I knew I had to go carefully. I didn’t want to be the one that took the shine off this man’s mantle and produce a set of commercials the Client couldn’t be 100% comfortable with.

In preparing my treatment for the Agency and Client’s consideration I focused on ensuring Steve was captured with integrity and honesty. I had to have him looking comfortable and believable on camera to ensure he delivered well for Olympic.

With just a short script to deliver for these 15-sec TVCs I decided to go without an autocue so that Steve looked like he meant what he was saying on-camera. Fortunately, he’s an intelligent man and presented his lines with confidence and commitment.

I the end, I’m very happy with how the finished commercials finished up. The planned audio and visual embellishments I’d suggested in my treatment added the necessary polish to TVCs that the Client’s very exited about running.

(watch the Olympic Watches TVC here)

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