Paramount creates a star trek and could the Boss be in the Bowl? Friday Wake-Up Call

Go big or go home

The Game Day lineup so far has got a galaxy full of stars, but Paramount+ is outshining them all, packing two dozen in one 60-second promotion. The new ViacomCBS streaming service’s commercial features its top talents scaling a snowy mountain (which is its symbol, get it?) including Jeff Probst, Tom Selleck, Gayle King, Patrick Stewart, Stephen Colbert, James Corden, DJ Kahled, Dora the Explorer, Spongebob Squarepants and Beavis and Butt-head.

Putting this star trek together was a tough climb for Droga5 and O Positive Films’ David Shane. “Even in normal times, this would be very ambitious,” Dan Kelly, group creative director at Droga5 told Ethan Jakob Craft, adding that  COVID-19 restrictions “quadrupled, if not more than that, the complications of [the production].” Writes Craft: “On top of juggling the schedules of some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, producers were faced with near-constant script writing as celebrities signed on (and dropped out of) the shoot, while on-set crews and editors had to contend with filming every character’s role separately—and in some cases, remotely.” Said Kelly, “Once we got into it, it was like, well, we’re committed! We have to swing for the fences, we have to go big.”

Test your Super Bowl ad skills

How many songs did Kraft Heinz’s agency go through to find just the right tune for the 2016 “Wiener Stampede” Big Game ad? (Hint: it was in the hundreds.) What spot did David Shane (cited in the item above) wish he did? For answers to this and other burning Super Bowl ad trivia, check out the Ad Age and Creativity staff’s interviews with Big Game ad creators. And remember time’s running out to amaze your friends with your advance knowledge of this year’s spots during your virtual game-day party, so make sure to study up on our cheat sheet—Jeanine Poggi’s Five Trends to Watch For here.