New commercials have devilish spin
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KIRKLAND — OK, here's the pitch.
The devil is offering a sweetheart of a deal. He wants your eternal soul in exchange for a Super Bowl championship.
But wait. There's more.
The Lord of the Underworld isn't exactly a menacing malcontent, rather a pudgy, sympathetic figure played smartly by comedian Eugene Levy, who looks a bit goofy wearing the red costume with the cape, horns and pitch fork.
That's the proposal that faced Seahawks brass as it elicited ideas on how to market an NFL team that made a slew of personnel changes after last year's disappointing 6-10 finish.
"They just started grinning and nodding and giving these `you're insane' type of looks," said Kevin Kehoe, co-president of Publicis, the advertising firm responsible for the television and radio commercials that began airing two weeks ago.
This year's theme, "We like our chances," differs greatly from the "It's now time" campaign that symbolized Coach Mike Holmgren's arrival two years ago.
It's a dramatic departure from past marketing philosophies for several reasons. The use of Levy, who made his commercial debut, is believed to be the first time the Seahawks have relied on Hollywood talent.
This year's ads offer no promises or predictions. There is not one appearance from Holmgren, and the light-hearted spots are intended to be educational and entertaining.
"They could see that it wasn't just gratuitous use of humor," Kehoe said. "It was not just frivolous. ... The time has come and gone where sports (commercials) in general need to be religious and inspirational and way up here on some other level. What we were trying to do was make the players more accessible to the fans."
To make it work, Kehoe and creative partner Jim LeMaitre wrote the scripts and relied on director Hank Perlman, who shot many of the satirical ESPN television commercials.
Securing Levy was the coup de grace, although his fee pushed the budget far beyond what it had been in the past. Neither the Seahawks nor Publicis would reveal how much the commercials cost.
The television spots were filmed during a two-day shoot last month at the Seahawks training complex.
"You don't realize how much time and effort goes into a 30-second spot," Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck said. "We were there for four hours to six hours, so there's a lot of down time.
"I had two little lines, and I was supposed to be annoyed at the devil. But by hour number five, I was really starting to get annoyed, so some of that came through. It made it better though."
The shift in marketing ideas was influenced by the award-winning comical spoofs used by the Mariners and the Sonics.
But selling a football team presents unique challenges.
"As opposed to baseball and basketball, we have a limited amount of games, and our players wear a lot of gear that tends to hide their personalities," said Duane McLean, Seahawks senior vice president of marketing. "We want to make sure that our fans become very familiar with players and the moves that have been made in the last three years."
Featured in the five television spots are defensive end Michael Sinclair, cornerback Shawn Springs, middle linebacker Isaiah Kacyvenski, offensive tackle Walter Jones, defensive tackle Chad Eaton and Hasselbeck. The radio spots feature offensive tackle Chris McIntosh, outside linebacker Anthony Simmons, receiver Darrell Jackson and defensive end Lamar King.
Since the ads began airing, the Seahawks have sold 3,000 season tickets.
Percy Allen can be reached at 206-464-2278 or pallen@seattletimes.com.