Universal Parks & Resorts Teams Up with Willow St. for Super Bowl Ad
Universal Parks & Resorts has teamed up with NFL great, Peyton Manning, for their latest ad, and it’s just as fun as you’d imagine.
Since his NFL retirement in 2015, Manning has been featured in several ad campaigns, but none quite like this. Manning stars in the spot as the “Vacation Quarterback,” coaching a family through all the thrills and character meet-ups you can only find in the Universal world, including wizards, alien-robots, and dinosaurs, to name a few. The 30-second commercial will air this Sunday on NBC during the Super Bowl LII broadcast, with an extended version of the ad playing during the pre-game.
Willow St. Partner, Jim Sykora, has been working behind the scenes on this project from the start: first as a writer, then supervising production in Orlando, and finally reviewing editorial as part of the Universal team. It’s been an exciting project, and he is thrilled with the finished product: “This was a production of massive scale, with a huge crew, hundreds of extras and one of the most well know celebrity athletes, all trying to navigate through one of the world’s busiest theme parks. I also had the opportunity to reunite with my former creative partner, the brilliant and talented Troy Scillian. The entire team was unbelievable and I couldn’t be any happier to be a part of it,” Sykora said.
Watch the extended version here, and tune in Sunday, February 4, to see these ads on the big TV screen.
CREDITS
Client: Universal Parks & Resorts
Spot: “Vacation Quarterback”
Agency: In-house
Chief Marketing Officer: Alice Norsworthy
Sr. Vice President of Marketing: Donna-Mirus Bates
Executive Creative Director: Troy Scillian
Copywriters: Troy Scillian, Jim Sykora, Dennis Quinn
Sr. Production Manager: Chris Silveira
Production Manager: Jackie Maness
Producer: Mike Murray
Production Company: MovingParts Inc.
Director: Ira Rosensweig
Executive Producers: Chad Cooperman
Producer: Maureen Tunney
Director of Photography: Benji Bakshi
Editor: Ira Rosensweig
Assistant Editor: Kyle Daily
Visual Effects: Tyler Buschman
Colorist: Bryan Smaller – Company3
Audio Mix: Jesse Ehredt
