Sam Adams, Nomar Garciaparra Lay Ground Rules for Red Sox Season

Play bahhhl!

Goodby Silverstein & Partners puts the accent on Boston (er, Bahston) in an amusing Samuel Adams commercial featuring legendary Red Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra.  

Nomah, as he’s reverently known in the Hub of the Universe, shares a split screen with actor Gregory Hoyt, who reprises his “Your Cousin From Boston” character from past outings. Hailing from north of Boston, Hoyt ranks as a veritable wizard of “ahhhhs.”

Directed by agency co-chair Jeff Goodby, the ad broke Friday on NESN during the local sports channel’s coverage of the Sox home opener against the Baltimore Orioles.

Hoyt and Garciaparra riff on Covid-driven rules changes for Major League Baseball’s shortened season. It’s no spoiler to say the results are a wicked pissah!

So, in the 60-game schedule for 2020, we’ll see … Nomah spitting? Nomah shouting in the umpire’s face? Nomah high-fives, fist-bumps, or butt slaps?

You might as well watch golf instead!

Garciaparra filmed his bits at home in Los Angeles, while Hoyt was sheltering in Austin, Texas. (Pretty fahh from Havahd Yahd!)

“We sent cameras to each of them and they, amazingly, set them up, cooperated in lighting, wardrobe, and background, and shot themselves,” recalls Goodby. “I was directing on a Zoom hookup. We had to clear a lot of trophies out of the background, and most of them belonged to Nomar’s wife, [retired soccer star] Mia Hamm.”

The six-time All-Star’s quirky batting rituals, renowned in baseball circles, came in for some good-natured razzing.

“Nomar was a real pro, very ESPN, so my job was to loosen him up a bit,” Goodby says. “We made a 15-second thing where the Cousin had some white batting gloves and was parodying Normar’s plate regimen—’Hey, Nomar. Who’s this? This remind you of anybody? I’m doing an impression here!’ Nomar just said, ‘Where’d you get this guy?’ “

Such a joke-ah!

CREDITS

Client: The Boston Beer Company
Brand: Samuel Adams
Spot Name: “Nomah” :45, :30, :15
Air Date: 7/24/2020
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners

Client
Co-Founder and Chairman: Jim Koch
Chief Marketing Officer: Lesya Lysyj
President and CEO: Dave Burwick
Senior Director of Communications: Robert Hall
Director of Marketing: Matt Withington
Brand Manager: Sammy Cohen
Senior Manager, Media and Sponsorships: Tory Belliveau

Agency

Creative
Chief Creative Officer: Margaret Johnson
Associate Creative Director: Brett Beaty
Associate Creative Director: AJ Warren
Associate Creative Director: Sean Smith
Senior Copywriter: Anthony DiMichele

Account Services
Account Director: Rachel Fagin
Account Manager: Kate Colantuono

Brand and Communication Strategy
Brand Strategy Director: Steph Bousquet
Communication Strategy Director: Caitlin Neelon

Production
Co-Director of Production: Leila Gage
Co-Director of Production: Margaret Brett-Kearns
Executive Broadcast Producer: Matt Flaker

Business Affairs
Director of Business Affairs: Judy Ybarra
Senior Business Affairs Manager: Chrissy Shearer

Production Company
Company Name: GS&P Social
Director: Jeff Goodby
Executive Producer: Danielle Riccardi
Technical Director: Andrew Butte
Line Producer: Andrew Devansky
Director of Photography: Mark Sandhoff

Editorial Company
Company Name: GS&P Social
Editor: Andrew Butte

Audio and Sound Design Company
Company name: Elevel
Executive Producer: Josh Brown
Audio Engineer: Jason Victorine
Senior Post Producer: Jack Whalen
Music: Q Department

VFX Company
Company name: Elevel
Director of Elevel: Michael Damiani
Creative Director: Mike Landry
Technical Director Motion: Nathan Shipley
Senior Post Producer: Jack Whalen