ESPN’s Quirky ‘This Is SportsCenter’ Campaign Returns With USWNT Stars Eating ‘Orange Slices’

ESPN’s long-running and deadpan ‘This Is SportsCenter’ campaign finally returned at the end of December with a quirky spot titled ‘Orange Slices’ – the first new ad in three years.

The 15-second video, developed in harness with creative agency Arts & Letters and helmed by Director Jim Jenkins, featured US Women’s National Team players Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Sophia Smith. The trio of soccer stars are all seated on the floor at ESPN HQ alongside SportsCenter anchor Nicole Briscoe eating orange slices, while Syracuse University mascot Otto the Orange hangs around in the background.

‘Orange Slices’ debuted on television during the 30 December broadcast of the Capital One Orange Bowl which saw No 6 ranked Tennessee Volunteers beat the No 10 ranked Clemson Tigers. It then rolled out across the media giant’s digital and social channels.

“Since our last shoot in 2019, we have crafted scripts and prepared for when we could shoot on the Bristol campus again with the best athletes in the world,” said EVP of Commercial Marketing at Disney Networks and ESPN Laura Gentile. “With incredible events on our sports calendar in the coming days, it’s time for the campaign to return.”

The sports behemoth’s New Year programming includes NFL Wild Card matchups, the NCAA football semis and title game, along with continuing NBA and NHL coverage.

Orange Slices’ will be followed by additional instalments in the ‘This Is SportsCenter’ series featuring a strong team of athletes including Olympic track and field gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin, ESPN personalities Elle Duncan, Kevin Negandhi, Jay Harris and Hannah Storm, as well as plenty of other team mascots.

The campaign was created for and briefed in by a team at ESPN which included Laura Gentile (EVP, ESPN Marketing and Social Media), Seth Ader (VP, Brand Marketing), Peter Mulally (Senior Director, Brand Marketing), John Lobo (Associate Director, Brand Marketing), Lenny Washington (Marketing Coordinator, Brand Marketing), Stacey Pressman (Director, Talent Production), Katie Hennessey (Sr Talent Producer), Matt Cheron (Associate Director, Marketing Production), Jonathan Little (Associate Producer II , Marketing Production), Cameron Gross (Associate Producer, Grande & Leonard), David Wimberley (Production Coordinator), Thomas Hamilton (Production Coordinator), J’Ron Erby (Social Media Manager, ESPN Social Content), Jordan Toczynski (Sr Social Media Specialist, ESPN Social Content), Lauren Giudice (Social Media Manager, ESPN Social Content), Allie Snow (Social Media Specialist 1, ESPN Social Content), Chris Duffy (Director, Talent Management, ESPN Talent Development & Planning) and Kalidia Reyes (Talent Relations Manager, ESPN Talent Development & Planning).

The was created by a group at agency Arts & Letters led by Charles Hodges (Founder/ECD), Temma Shoaf (Head of Production), Andy Grayson (Director of Strategy), Andrew Kong (Creative Director), NJ Placentra (Creative Director), Molly Jamison (Creative Director), Scott Hayes (Creative), Chris Kim (Creative), Calleen Colburn (Executive Producer), Andrea Rodriguez (Senior Producer), Austin Butler (Assistant Producer), Lenora Cushing (Director of Business Affairs), Jennifer Kmetzsch (Assistant Business Affairs Manager), Brenda Schneider (Group Business Director), Hill Shore (Business Director) and Lauren Lawson (Business Manager).

The team at production outfit XYZ active on the initiative included Adrian Mojica (Director of Operations), Whitney Green (Executive Producer), Ryan Dunstan (Resource Manager), Lauren Galanides (Senior Producer), Pat Blumer (Edit Lead), Sho Kellam (Assistant Editor) and Rachel Hamburger (Assistant Editor).

Other companies working on the campaign included O Positive, Company3, Parliament and Barking Owl.

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The ‘This Is SportsCenter’ ad series began back in 1994: check out some of the campaign’s archive highlights below.