The New England Patriots won’t be in the Super Bowl this year. But that didn’t stop a little bit of Boston from creeping into the big game.
What’s going on: Hyundai released a new commercial for Super Bowl LIV that will air during the big game.
- The ad includes stars Chris Evans, Rachel Dratch, John Krasinski and David Ortiz, who all have Boston accents and bring a special blend of Boston flavor to the Super Bowl.
- The commercial, called “Smaht Pahk,” shows Evan and Dratch running into each other as Krasinski arrives in his new car. Krasinski uses a “smaht pahk” clicker to fit the tight parking space.
- “Their passionate discussion in the most Boston accents of all-time subsequently draws the attention of Boston Red Sox legend Big Papi, who seems to have really downsized his living quarters in retirement,” according to Entertainment Weekly.
Context: Krasinski, Dratch and Evans are all Boston-area natives.
The backstory: Barney Goldberg, Innocean executive creative director, told AdWeek that the commercial was born through accident. It went through 344 different scripts, apparently.
- Goldberg: “We try to find that one very interesting thing and do it in an entertaining way. So the feature we focused on is Remote Smart Parking Assist, which is a mouthful,” Goldberg said. “It was shortened to Smart Park, and then a team with Boston roots started saying it in the accent, which started becoming pretty catchy.”
- Bigger picture: According to AdWeek, the ad follows Hyundai’s strategy of using comedy during its advertisements. In 2019, the Hyundai commercial include Jason Batemen using the Shopper Assurance program. In 2016, Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart teamed up for the ad.