DirecTV Lampoons Ghostbusters With Help From 4 Baseball Greats

If there’s something weird. And it don’t look good. Who you gonna call? GOATbusters, that’s who!

The latest installment of DirecTV’s “Get Your TV Together” ad series features supernatural shenanigans with four all-time MLB greats spoofing the Ghostbusters franchise. Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson wield proton bats to battle a ginormous goofball baddie in this :30 from TBWAChiatDay L.A. and O Positive director Jim Jenkins:

Fans might recognize their foe as a murderous, 100-foot-tall version of the Cincinnati Reds mascot, Mr. Redlegs. (The team started the season 3-13. No wonder dude’s bent on destruction.)

For this entry in a campaign touting the convergence of live TV (sports, special events) and on demand (movies, mostly), “we needed a property as iconic as the game of baseball itself,” TBWACD creative directors Mark Winters and Ryan Buckley tell Muse. “With Ghostbusters: Afterlife freshly available on the platform, we found a story world that speaks to classic cinema fans as well as new ones.”

They add: “The leap from Ghostbusters to GOATbusters was surprisingly intuitive. We always push for a layer of fresh thinking that makes our mashups more than the sum of their parts, and the GOAT—Greatest of All Time—angle gave us license to feature some of the biggest icons in MLB history.”

A-Rod, Griffey, Ortiz and Johnson also suit up for this informercial spoof:

Teams should use that Ecto-1 to bring in relief pitchers from the bullpen. In case the starter suffers a … dead arm.

“We knew fans would get a ton of joy watching their heroes come out of retirement, if only for a moment,” say Winters and Buckley. “The GOATs also speak to a time in MLB history—and perhaps our youth!—when players felt larger than life. That kind of summer afternoon game/summer evening blockbuster energy is a feeling of nostalgia we wanted to capture and share.”

TBWACD shot the spot over four nights at the Oakland Coliseum. “The best part about the shoot was seeing our GOATs come together like old friends after who knows how long,” the creatives recall. “It was a blast watching them catch up, crack jokes, swap stories and rib each other between takes.”

The real Mr. Redlegs was on hand, too, filmed against a green screen and menacingly pumped up in post.

Previous outings in the campaign starred tennis GOAT Serena Williams with wild takes on Wonder Woman ’84 and The Matrix.

“We’re excited by what the future holds,” the CDs say. “The longer this construct stays in market, the more culture-making and self-referential we can make it. ‘Get Your TV Together’ is an invitation for TV lovers to get their shit together in an entertainment ecosystem that has gotten overly complicated and forgotten what it does best—entertain. There’s a simple principle that underlines our approach to everything on this brand—make the advertising as entertaining as the product. It hasn’t steered us wrong yet.”

CREDITS

DIRECTV Marketing
Vince Torres: Chief Marketing Officer
Kendall Thaker: VP, Advertising and Go-To-Market
Sheri Holmes: Senior Director, Product Marketing Management
Jenn Wang: Lead Product Marketing Manager
Ty Tanioka: Product Marketing Manager

TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles
Erin Riley: CEO
Renato Fernandez: Chief Creative Officer
Jason Karley: Group Creative Director
Mark Winters: Creative Director
Ryan Buckley: Creative Director
Tyler Archibald: Senior Copywriter
Will Holmes: Senior Art Director
Andrew Bae: Jr. Art Director
Bruno Regalo: Head of Art & Design
Jake Skirving: Senior Designer
Andrea Nazario: Jr. Designer

Guia Iacomin: Director of Content Production
Alicia Portner: Senior Producer
Dena Moore: Executive Art Producer
Elisabeth Fried: Senior Art Producer
Ryan McDonald: Art Producer
Dessiah Davis: Director of Traffic Operations
Marian Cabasso: Traffic Manager
Robin Rossi: Director of Business Affairs

Jen Costello: Chief Strategy Officer
Jesse Unger: Group Strategy Director
Laura Gorder: Senior Strategist
Hannah Schweitzer: Jr. Strategist
Albert Kim: Head of Connections Planning
Kevin Bautista: Associate Director of Connections
Laura Mayer: Data Director
Zahara Chaudhry: Senior Data Strategist

Matt Theisen: Brand Lead
Carlos Quintanilla: Account Supervisor
Bridget Derraugh: Account Executive
Lawrence Gonzales: Project Manager

PRODUCTION: O POSITIVE
Director: Jim Jenkins
EP: Ralph Laucella
Producer: Marc Grill
Head of Production : Devon Clark
DP: Gyula Pados
PD: Jason Edmonds
AD: Greg McCollum
Costume Designer: Michelle Martini

EDITORIAL: ARCADE
Editor: Geoff Hounsell
Assistant: Paulo Miramontes
Producers: Alexa Atkin & Tom Barnett
EP: Crissy DeSimone

VFX: THE MILL
TBWA & CRITICAL MASS
Executive Creative Director: Nathan Kane
Shoot Supervisor: James Mulholland
Shoot Supervisor: Nathan Kane
Executive Producer: Clairellen Wallin
Sr Producer:Jack Williams
Producer: Chanelle Larios
Production Coordinator: Kyla Graham
Production Support: Siggy Chojnacki
3D Lead Artist: Justin Kurtz & Yong Chan Kim
2D Lead Artist: Andre Vidal & Krissy Nordella
2D Artist: Jay Lee, Jeeeun Lee, Yoon-sun Bae, Hailey Akashian, Felipe Passarani, Rajesh Kaushik, Noah Catan & Jiin You
Animation Lead: John Wilson
Animation: Jessica Castillo
Finish Artist: Matt McDonald & Anton Anderson
Graphic Animation Art Director: James van den Elshout
Designer: Chris Szeto
Concept Design: Maxim Kozhevnikov

AUDIO POST/SFX:  STRING & TINS
Sound Designer: Culum Simpson
Additional Sound Design: Joe Wilkinson
Foley: Cobblestone Foley
Audio Producer: Laura-Leigh Smith

MUSIC: WALKER
Music: Walker Music
Executive Producer: Sara Matarazzo, Stephanie Pigott
Senior Producer: Danielle Soury

MIX: LIME
Executive Producer: Susie Boyajan
Sound Mixer: Matt Miller
Mix Assistant: Ian Connie

BASEBALL FOOTAGE: STALKR
RETOUCHING: DIEGO SPERONI
Diego Speroni: Digital Artist
Francisco Speroni: Digital Assistant
Freddy Fabris: Digital Producer

SONY PICTURES & GHOST CORPS

Critical Mass

Val Carlson: Chief Creative Officer
Andrew Lavery: Executive Creative Director
James Maclean: Creative Director
Javier Olivares: Assoc. Creative Director
Megahn O’Neill: Assoc. Creative Director
Ryan Mesnchuk: Senior Art Director
Taylor Lumley: Art Director
Ana Benitez Duarte: Designer
Peter Lagosky: Senior Copywriter
Thomas Turner: Production Design Lead
Daisy Swain: Copywriter

Kyle Bottoms: Strategy Director
Faith Tyrell: Sr. Strategist

Stacia Parseghian: EVP Client Partner
Maria Hodgeson: SVP Client Partner
Lauren Rappaport: VP Client partner
Andrew Burke: Sr. Account Director
Carly Barnhart: Account Manager

Sydney Woodman: Executive Producer
Ashleigh Fehmie: Assoc. Program Director
Lexi Scott: Sr. Producer
Vince Varga: Sr. Producer
Ian Wells: Sr. Producer
Logan Knight: Assoc. Producer
Luc Wilson: Assoc. Producer

PRODUCTION: O POSITIVE
Director: Brian Billow
EP: Ralph Laucella
EP: Marc Grill
Head of Production : Devon Clark
Producer: Grayson Bithell
DP: Don Davis
Prod Designer: Jason Edmonds
Costume Designer : Michelle Martini
AD: Paul Norman

EDITORIAL: ARCADE
Editor: Fernando Raigoza
Assistant: Joelle Graham
EP: Crissy DeSimone
Producers: Alexa Atkin & Tom Barnett

MIX: LIME