Full-service agency barrettSF has developed its first work for Bleacher Report, a division of Turner Sports, bringing rap duo Blackalicious into the studio to remix their iconic “Alphabet Aerobics” hit with new sports lyrics, and turning the resulting track into an animated music video. barrettSF won the account this summer, and this will be Bleacher Report’s first foray into brand advertising.
Just like the original “Alphabet Aerobics,” Blackalicious’s new “#SportsAlphabet” rap intensifies in speed as it runs through the ABCs, now riffing on football, basketball and everything else sport. From Bleacher Report’s General Manager, Dorth Raphaely: “The Bleacher Report brand is getting bigger and louder, so we wanted to create a spot that was... big and loud.”
Gentlemen Scholar stepped up to animate the music video with 26 different styles, one for each letter of the alphabet. Everything from alley cats serving up alley oops to each other for “A,” to a 3D hockey goon getting a puck through his mouth for the letter “G.”
“This project is about collaboration and risk,” says Pete Harvey, Executive Creative Director of barrettSF. “Bleacher Report is sticking themselves out there with a film that rewrites the sports alphabet, and asked us, alongside Gentlemen Scholar, to surprise people with the execution.”
Creative Credits:
Advertising Agency: barrettSF, San Francisco, CA, USA
Client: Bleacher Report
Individual Credits:
Executive Creative Directors: Pete Harvey & Jamie Barrett
Associate Creative Director: Brad Kayal
Senior Copywriter: Jake Reilly
Art Director: Byron Wages
Senior Producer: Nicole Van Dawark
Producer: Patrick Wilkinson
Associate Producer: Charlotte Dugoni
Managing Director: Patrick Kelly
Account Director: Molly Warner
Production Company: Gentleman Scholar
Directors: William Campbell & Will Johnson
Executive Producer: Jo Arghiris
Head of Production: Rachel Kaminek
Associate Creative Director: John-Patrick Rooney
Art Director: Jordan Lyle
CG Supervisor: Tim Hayward
Producer: Nikki Maniolas
Associate Producer: Nicole Smarsh
Design: Trevor Conrad, Chris Finn, Sarah Beth Hulver, Jordan Lyle, Macauley Johnson, John-Patrick Rooney, Calla Donofrio, Hana Eunjin Yean
2D Animation: Chris Finn, Sarah Beth Hulver, Jordan Lyle, Macauley Johnson, John-Patrick Rooney, Shawn Kim
Cel Animation: Tristan Balos, Taik Lee, Stephanie Simpson, Harry Teitelman
Character Animation: Blake Beynon, James Lane
Music: Blackalicious
Sound Design: Barking Owl
Sound Designer: Michael Anastasi
Creative Director: Kelly Bayett
Producer: KC Dossett
Audio Mix: One Union Recording
Engineer: Matt Zipkin
Executive Producer: Lauren Mask