World’s best ads ever #40: Reebok and Terry Tate bring the ‘pain train’
We asked our readers to vote for their favorite commercials of all time. Top creatives from the World Creative Rankings and The Drum’s Judges’ Club then ranked the ads. Now, we bring you the definitive 100 best TV and video ads of all time.
This Reebok spot, first aired during Super Bowl XXXVII in 2002, kicked off a series of nine short TV ads created by Dodgeball writer and director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Based on a short film pilot developed by screenwriter Pete Chiarelli, the ad casts ex-NFLer Lester Speight as a corporate employee of the imagined Felcher & Sons, where he keeps other employees in line using what can only be described as fairly unconventional tactics. It proved one of the most successful ads ever aired during the Super Bowl halftime program.
To follow up the success of the original ad, Reebok created six unique episodes of the Terry Tate/Felcher & Sons story between August and December of 2002. Eventually, nine episodes were produced. For many viewers, the mockumentary feel of the spots conveyed frankness and realism à la The Office that equated to comedic gold. The original 60-second spot clinched a Cannes Golden Lion award.
The campaign also ingrained the character of Terry Tate into the cultural zeitgeist. Throughout the years, Tate has appeared in everything from PSAs urging Americans to vote to ESPN’s comedy series Mayne Street. This year, Terry Tate made a comeback in a Super Bowl LVI ad for Hellmann’s starring New England Patriots linebacker coach and former NFL star Jerod Mayo.