Backstreet’s back, alright, in T-Mobile’s Super Bowl 60 campaign.
A 30-second teaser posted on the telecom brand’s social platforms shows the iconic ‘90s boy band practicing Broadway-style vocal warmups.
After a series of “la, la, la”s and “me, me, me”s, Nick Carter loosens up with a light tongue-twister: “Power pack perk on terrific T-Mobile Tuesday.” Meanwhile, AJ McLean tries to master another one:r “Switching swiftly to save smarter.”
Brian Littrell declares the band is “so back” before the shot closes out with a black screen, encouraging viewers to tune in on Feb. 8.
The beloved pop group will front a 60-second ad for the mobile carrier, set to air during the second quarter of the New England Patriots’ faceoff against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
The teaser arrives just hours after comedian-actor Druski—who’s also been named T-Mobile’s “chief switching officer”—dropped a more subtle teaser. In that 18-second video, shared across T-Mobile’s social media accounts Monday, Druski nervously rehearses for a big phone call to his “boys.”
So back
The forthcoming campaign was directed by Hot Tub Time Machine filmmaker Steve Pink and created by Panay Films, the entertainment studio and creative agency helmed by Andrew Panay, the producer of Wedding Crashers and Earth to Echo. Panay and his team shot the spot over a single, jam-packed weekend in late January.
“I’m usually shooting Super Bowl spots…two weeks before [the game]. It’s scary, but it’s also kind of awesome, because I’m moving with culture,” Panay told ADWEEK.
Panay said he knew The Backstreet Boys would be the ideal messengers for T-Mobile’s message when he saw the band perform at the Sphere in Las Vegas last summer. “I knew right away I wanted them. They are the delivery mechanism,” Panay said. He added: “They’re as hot now, if not hotter, than they ever were.
Panay Films and T-Mobile have a history spanning some eight years. During that time, the agency has worked with the brand to produce a goofy Oscars spot starring Zach Braff and Donald Faison, a play on video call mishaps starring Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, and promoted T-Mobile’s partnership with Elon Musk’s satellite company Starlink.
