Former Major League Star Randy Johnson Stars in Clever But Weird Commercial For DirectTV
DirecTV, the famed cable distributor, has a new marketing campaign and they've enlisted the help of former Montreal Expos, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants' ace Randy Johnson for it.
National Baseball Hall of Fame member Randy Johnson is part of a clever, albeit a little strange, marketing campaign with DirectTV.
Here's the gist: Remember when Johnson famously (and tragically) killed a bird with a fastball during a spring training game in 2001? Well, this commercial has Johnson and the birds getting along and developing a new relationship with Johnson speerheading a way to help birds watch DirectTV. Seriously.
You can watch it below:
It's certainly clever to bring back a popular and infamous memory from baseball history, but what is exactly is the point? I think it's to prove that you no longer need satellite dishes to watch DirectTV, but I'm not really sure.
Here was what "Awful Announcing" had to say about the whole thing:
One of the strangest and most-remembered incidents in baseball came in spring training in March 2001, when a fastball from then-Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson hit and killed a mourning dove. That moment has seen a lot of reflections over the years of various types. And now, Johnson is featured in a new DirecTV ad referencing it, playing off the multichannel video programming distributor’s recent “For The Birds” campaign.
That campaign previously saw two pigeons complaining about the lack of a satellite dish on their home and educating consumers on how to watch DirecTV without a satellite. Now, they’ve enlisted Johnson to offer “bird sanctuaries,” designed like a miniature baseball stadium on top of a satellite dish. And they’ll also offer the “Millet Mullet,” a bird treat shaped like Johnson’s famed hairstyle. Here’s the video with Johnson:
Well then.... okay???
Johnson was a 22-year veteran who pitched for the Montreal Expos, Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants. He won 303 career games and had a 3.29 ERA. He led the league in strikeouts a whopping nine times.
He is a now a photographer in his spare time, as well as an actor, apparently.
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