AFL Needs to Build Player Recognition
Adam J Locascio
Friday January 9, 2004
The commercial features Jon Bon Jovi, the newly crowned part-owner of the Philadelphia Soul expansion franchise, and John Elway, part-owner of the second year Colorado Crush.
I won’t bore you with the details, but the two basically romp around Bon Jovi’s palatial mansion with their respective football teams breaking marble pillars and shattering windows in three-quarter, Inside the NFL speed.
Last year’s commercial featured Kurt Warner and Elway playing electric football while explaining the difference between it and Arena ball. Elway put on the meanest face of his life and cut the table in half with a chainsaw (yawn). Hey Elway, you’re not Al Pacino, so don’t even go there.
Um, what are we doing here?
Isn’t the AFL just starting to get the exposure that it deserves with this NBC contract? And the best we can offer are two owners and a former player?
On a personal note, I’ve been a Tampa Bay Buccaneers fan since 1980, but I didn’t tune in last year to see Malcolm Glazer. Although I think I did pay to see Malcolm Glazer once this year. Have you seen “Lord of the Rings” yet?
I can understand that the league needs to get some name recognition involved with their advertising, but John Elway’s next snap in the AFL is his first one. If you’re going to use Bon Jovi and Elway, mix in some current players. I can think of at least five highlight reel catches that should be in a commercial and would make people go “whoa.”
I’ve been to a lot of Arena Football games and the only time I’ll ever look into the owners box is when it’s on fire.
You want my idea for a commercial? Okay, here it goes.
Jon Bon Jovi is walking through the arena with one of his players, let’s say Gunnard Twyner, who was picked up by the Soul in trade for an autographed Bon Jovi guitar. No, that’s not a misprint.
And Twyner is basically conducting a sightseeing tour of the arena. Here’s the snack bar, here’s the bench, and here’s your seat right up top, way far away in the owners box, far away from danger, Mr. Jovi. Or is it Mr. Bon Jovi? How about he spends the whole commercial calling Bon Jovi “Bon?”
“That’s Jon, Gunnard.”
“They told me your name was Bon Jovi.”
“That’s my last name.”
“So Bon’s your middle name?”
“No, that’s my last name!”
“So that makes ‘Bon’ your middle name? Can I call you BJ? Or how about JB?”
“You’ll figure out my name when you’ve found out I’ve fined you.”
“Yessir.”
Well, the game starts, and we can show various highlights and Mr. Bon Jovi is getting antsy in the owners box so he decides to move down to the front row and on the next play he gets drilled in the face with an errant pass.
In the next scene he has his head tilted back with an ice bag on his face and he pulls the bag away to exclaim to the camera, “Wow! What a game!” Hey, anything’s better than some backhanded reference to the “Slippery When Wet” album.
Okay, so I’m not in the marketing department for a reason, but the AFL needs to start mixing in the players in an effort to create a signature for each team. Right now, the only time a player gets some publicity is when they make the jump to the NFL.
Fans need a face with their team. The Atlanta Falcons have Michael Vick. The Chicago Bulls have Michael Jordan and the San Francisco Giants have Barry Bonds. The Tampa Bay Storm has… Lawrence Samuels.
Who’s he?
Well, come to a game and find out.
Adam J. Locascio is a financial advisor in the Tampa Bay area and a Board Member of the Tampa Bay Storm Surge Fan Club. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Phoenix and is a six-year season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay Storm.
