Ad of the Day: NHL stars put the Stanley Cup in the dishwasher in ESPN SportsCenter ads

On Monday, SportsCenter, ESPN’s satellite television network, released a a new spot titled ‘Dishwasher,’ as part of its larger ‘This is SportsCenter’ campaign.

In the ad, Golden Knights forwards Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault join SportsCenter anchor Steve Levy to give the Stanley Cup a much-needed cleaning in a dishwasher. Levy watches Eichel and Marchessault open the dishwasher with the Stanley Cup inside. Marchessault asks Eichel if “they should run it again,” (meant to be a subtle gesture of winning the Stanley Cup back-to-back), to which Eichel replies, “Yeah, I think so.”

The ad came just before the NHL opening night, where Vegas Golden Knights beat the Seattle Kraken four-to-one after a banner-raising ceremony.

“As the NHL returns to ESPN, our iconic This is SportsCenter campaign shines a light on the Stanley Cup champions and two of their stars, Jonathan Marchessault and Jack Eichel,” said Seth Ader, vice-president of brand marketing at ESPN. “Lord Stanley’s Cup is now cleaned up for another dramatic season on ESPN, although it sounds like the Vegas Golden Knights are looking to ‘run it again.’”

The Dishwasher spot was developed by creative agency Arts & Letters Creative Co.

Chris Kim, creative director at Arts & Letters Co, added: “There have been iconic NHL This is SportsCenter commercials, so to be lucky enough to add to them is really special. We loved getting to work along with two of the sport’s biggest stars, the Stanley Cup and Steve Levy.”

ESPN’s This is SportsCenter campaign has released four different spots since its launch in late 2022, including ‘Orange Slices,’ ‘Performance Evaluation,’ ‘Stoppage Time’ and ‘Seconds.’

Each feature prominent athletes like United States Women’s Track & Field star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and United States Women’s National Team soccer players Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Sophia Smith, alongside SportsCenter anchors, such as Elle Duncan, Hannah Storm, Kevin Neghandi and Jay Harris.

New spots starring Boston Celtics superstar Jayson Tatum, PGA Tour golfer Jon Rahm and MMA fighter Brandon Moreno are slated to run in the coming months.

Credits

Creative agency: Arts & Letters Creative Co

Editorial: XYZ

Production company: O Positive

Color: Company3

VFX: Blacksmith

Sound design & Mix: Barking Owl

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