ESPN continues to rollout creative for the ‘This is SportsCenter’ campaign. 

Sat., Feb. 4, United States Olympic Track & Field gold medalist Sydney McLaughlin will have her This is SportsCenter moment. She’ll be alongside veteran SportsCenter anchor Hannah Storm with a cameo from Providence mascot Friar Dom.

“Seconds,” in partnership with Arts & Letters Co., will debut during the 259th Duke – North Carolina men’s basketball game, which airs Sat., Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Similar to the other recent creative, the commercials were filmed inside the ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Conn. Storm asks McLaughlin to catch up, but her schedule is pretty packed. McLaughlin replies with, “Yeah, I’ve got 51.46 right after lunch, or I’ve got 51.41 later this afternoon. Oh, wait, I have 50.68 right now!”

Storm quickly shuts down the idea with a simple, “It wasn’t that important anyway.”

Each number is of significance to McLaughlin. The 51.46 was when she broke her own 400m hurdles world record for Olympic gold in Tokyo. Her 51.41 was her 400m hurdles time at the 2022 USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships (then a world record), and 50.68 was her 2022 World Athletics Championships time – again shattering her world record mark a month later.

This is the fourth This is SportsCenter commercial since the return of the campaign in late 2022. Other prominent athletes featured include United States Women’s National Team soccer stars Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Sophia Smith with SportsCenter anchors Elle Duncan, Kevin Neghandi, and Jay Harris having roles.

Famous mascots to appear on television screens nationally include University of Connecticut mascot Jonathan the Husky and Syracuse University mascot Otto the Orange, and with a featured role from Delta State University’s Fighting Okra.

These spots in order of debut are: “Orange Slices,” “Performance Evaluation,” and “Stoppage Time.”

More commercials are set to air later in 2023.

Creative Credits
ESPN
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
Kalidia Reyes – Talent Relations Manager, ESPN Talent Development & Planning

 Arts & Letters
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
Lauren Lawson – Business Manager

XYZ
Adrian Mojica – Director of Operations, XYZ
Whitney Green – Executive Producer, XYZ
Ryan Dunstan – Resource Manager, XYZ
Lauren Galanides – Senior Producer, XYZ
Pat Blumer – Edit Lead, XYZ
Sho Kellam – Assistant Editor, XYZ
Rachel Hamburger – Assistant Editor, XYZ

O Positive
Jim Jenkins – Director
Marc Grill – Executive Producer
Vince Vennitti – DP
Toni Barton – Production Designer

Company3
Tim Masick – Colorist
Ryan Moncrief – Color Producer
Stephen Winterhalter – Color Assistant 

Parliament
Creative Lead
Nathan Kane
Kathleen Kirkman

Production
Anna Kravstov
Kat Maidment
Sebastien Le Coz

Barking Owl
Elizabeth McClanahan – Sound Designer & Mixer
Ashley Benton – Executive Producer
Jenna Pangilinan – Associate Producer
Kelly Bayett – Creative Director