Will Ferrell’s Super Bowl Commercial Reminded Us of When Pirates Used Similar Tactic

Remember when we were shocked to see our beloved Pittsburgh Pirates on Super Bowl Sunday?  It was a very cool idea and it happened two Super Bowls ago.

Will Ferrell and Funny or Die did the same type of an ad yesterday for Old Milwaukee.  It reminded us of the Pirates and no the reminder didn’t come from the fact that Old Mil sucks.

The fact the Pirates ran the ad back in 2010 at such a targeted market was even more impressive. No, it would never be a general commercial that can be used throughout the season. It was time stamped down to the moment it aired on Super Bowl Sunday.  Some people said the Pirates were acting rich.  I seem to think acting rich is the Coke bears.  We have you by the balls so we’re going to force you to watch this awful commercial.  Have a Coke and a Smile.  And Shut up.

Here is what we wrote back when it aired:

"Frankly, it surprised us. There was no hype surrounding the ad. At least none that we saw. There wasn’t a “secret” leak to the Pirate blogs. No ”mistakenly” letting it be released on YouTube. No, nothing like that was done. Oh well. Hell, I’m not a marketing expert. We don’t know much here at all actually. Tonight, we lucked out and found the ad on YouTube and wanted to share it with you. It had 16 views when we grabbed it to post here for you. So what do you think of it?Here’s my thoughts. First, something exciting is happening on Federal Street. Can’t say I remember ever seeing a commercial like this for the Pirates. But I seriously doubt anyone pulled out their phone and bought tickets in the middle of their Super Bowl party. That is certainly a measurable stat, maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt it. So it’s an image move. The point of the commercial was to create a buzz."

Not sure there was much buzz though…so is that a marketing failure? We said no at the time, but now it seems the commercial was removed by the user.  Well, that sucks.  But I swear, it was kinda cool.  The commercial showed an empty PNC Park, a few fireworks went off behind the announcer and a reminder about season tickets was delivered in a typical, yet non expected way.  But nevermind, now it’s gone.

So instead, here is the commercial that Will Ferrell did that went viral today. Enjoy.