Playoff ad campaigns are awesome...unless they involve Dane Cook

It seems like sports advertising treats playoff season the same way athletes do: They kind of keep it going throughout the season, staying consistent, at times rising to the occasion and doing something really flashy, but mainly just lay up and shoot for par. Then, the playoffs come, and they turn it up a notch. Each sport comes up with a gimmick that is usually pretty good. When they hit, they're awesome, and almost every single one of each campaign is great. Are they played about 9,000 times a night? Absolutely, especially during the games themselves. While I would probably cut the airing rate by about a third, at least we're getting some good stuff. I'm a big sucker for epic, and I enjoy sports, and I suppose I like moments (it's hard to hate those, right?) Therefore, the transitive property of equality says epic sports moments are right in my wheelhouse.

What got me onto this topic, anyway? The NBA has had some great ads all year, with the "Where Amazing Happens" commercials. This is one of the better campaigns I've seen in a while, and it really helps highlight some of the most exciting and dramatic moments of the past couple years. The style it's shot in, the piano music in the background, the great photography that catches the emotion of the moments, all of it's great. One of the better things about these ads is that the NBA kept updating them. They made new ones after the Rockets went on their 22-game winning streak and leading up to playoff time. Selling their product with an artistic ad campaign was a great move by the NBA. Now they've followed up with the "There Can Only be One" side-by-side face ads featuring some interesting pairings (Kobe and Shaq being at the top of the list). They skip the in-your-face, punch-you-in-the-gut stuff and just utilize the natural drama of the game itself. Awesome.

One of my other favorite playoff ad campaigns was the 2002 NFL playoff series featuring Don Cheadle. Now, a lot of this came from Cheadle, who could recite the nutrition information off a Luna bar and make it sweet. But his definitive, dramatic delivery and the clips that accompany it make you feel like he cares about the playoffs, and make you want to care, too. Because, let's face it, who doesn't want to be like Don Cheadle? Make sure you check out the Kevin Dyson clip, not only because Cheadle lays out on the field, but also to relive one of the best moments in St. Louis sports history (with a great call from Mike Bush).

While there's been plenty of hits over the past several years in playoff advertising, there's also been some misses. One that comes to mind features one of the most overrated celebrities making millions today. Baseball's inexplicable Dane Cook campaign from last year's playoffs was vomit-inducing. First off, he sucks. Hard. You see those things and you wonder if he watched a game all year, much less all of his life. They are all flashy like a Pokémon cartoon, but they didn't do a whole lot for the game itself. There's only one October? No shit, Dane. Unfortunately, there's plenty of reasons why your commercials suck.