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The e-commerce arm of Dick’s Sporting Goods dropped two ads this week, reaching into new territory with comedy and celebrity and kicking off a year-long promotion to boost its digital business.
The spots, from filmmaker-actor Lake Bell, star Will Arnett and Kathryn Hahn as a harried dad and cool auntie who can’t physically make it to a Dick’s store for kid-required supplies before game time. Instead, they take a slightly trippy adventure into online shopping, ending up with soccer cleats, basketball shoes and sporty extras for themselves.
The campaign, called “Click on Dicks.com,” represents “a big investment” with exposure on national cable and broadcast TV like the upcoming March Madness tournament, streaming services such as Amazon, YouTube and Netflix and other broad-based media, along with a significant social program through 2024.
“We really want to surround the consumer, build awareness and drive consideration for the dot com,” Emily Silver, Dick’s CMO, told ADWEEK, noting the shift in tone and talent. “This is humor that feels consistent with Dick’s values and it also feels new and fresh.”
To launch the campaign, Dick’s threw a Hollywood party this week, complete with step-and-repeat photo ops, sports-themed decor and cocktails and c-suite execs–including CEO Lauren Hobart–from the brand’s Pittsburgh headquarters. A stand-up set from comedian Daniel Weingarten, who will feed the campaign’s social media efforts along with ad co-star Nicole Daniels, led into a first-look at the spots with Bell, Arnett and Hahn sneak peeking outtakes from the shoot.
‘Comedic nuggets’
While Dick’s has ongoing relationships with professional athletes, it hasn’t often tapped into Hollywood but is open to more such alliances going forward “if celebrities can help us tell our story in an authentic way—it has to feel right, and this campaign did,” Silver told ADWEEK during the Tuesday night event in Los Angeles.
Bell pitched the concept to Dick’s “as a wild card,” she said, since she’s outside the brand’s roster of agencies, which includes Arts & Letters for the flagship brick and mortar brand. “Click on Dicks.com” was a partnership between Dick’s in-house marketing team, Bell, production company London Alley and new L.A.-based creative agency Juxtapose Studio.
