• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, September 10, 2020

Just in time for the start of the NFL season, Community America Credit Union is out with a new spot from creative agency Cactus, featuring Kansas City Chiefs star quarterback Patrick Mahomes. It debuts in the NFL season opener between the Chiefs and the Houston Texans tonight.

The spot, entitled “Rising Into Something Greater,” is inspired by the look of the Academy Award-winning short “Dear Basketball,” directed by the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant. The 30-second animated and mostly black-and-white ad is designed to communicate elegance, beauty and power.

The copy, voiced by Mahomes, links his rise with the Chiefs to the fortitude of the people and community of Kansas City in facing hurdles amid the pandemic.

Initially, the ad was going to be live-action, but the agency and client shifted to animation in light of the health crisis.

“We created an entirely new batch of concepts, but ultimately ended up going with the same script from our original idea, but with a completely reimagined way to bring it to life visually,” notes Brian Watson, executive creative director, Cactus. “As much as we liked the original vision for the spot, we ended up feeling like the animated version was even stronger.”

And safer.

How safe playing pro football is right now -- well, I guess we'll see.