In the days leading up to the Super Bowl, Xfinity is running a new campaign featuring 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and another Christian McCaffrey who doesn’t quite measure up.
The point of the campaign, created by Whistle, is that other providers don’t measure up to Xfinity.
The spot announces that “not all Christian McCaffreys are the same,” introducing the NFL All-Pro and his namesake, a restaurant manager from Belvidere, Illinois. “I make tacos,” the less well-known McCaffrey says.
With both dressed in similar workout togs, the two McCaffreys go through a series of drills, running, catching footballs and pushing a tackling dummy.
It’s easy to tell the football player from the restaurant manager.
“Don’t settle for slow … or unreliable … or weak," the spot says. “Get real deal, speed, reliability and power with Xfinity.”
The spot will air across linear networks throughout February.
The video will also appear on Whistle’s and Xfinity’s social channels, including TikTok, Instagram, Facebook Reels and YouTube shorts.
“All three challenges that Christian McCaffrey and his namesake will participate in lean into key product features of our internet — speed, reliability and power — and demonstrate that just because another offering technically delivers the internet doesn’t mean they are the same,” Comcast VP of brand partnerships and activation Matt Lederer said. “We are grateful Christian saw the playfulness of the campaign and was such a good sport.”
Like other cable companies, Comcast has been under pressure from lower-price wireless broadband providers. In the fourth quarter, Comcast lost 34,000 broadband customers.
“It was a ton of fun to try challenges knowing I would be competing against another Christian namesake,” said Christian McCaffrey of the 49ers, who will take on the Kansas City Chiefs February 11 in the Super Bowl. “The fact that he is a fan of mine and was willing to try and keep up with me makes me very much appreciate him and his good nature.”
Said restaurant manager Christian McCaffrey: “I have always been a Christian McCaffrey fan, given the crazy coincidence that we have the same name, and people bring it up to me all the time. I loved the campaign concept and thought about the playfulness of it, trying to hold my own and compare skills against a legend that wears the same name on his back every Sunday.”
Team Whistle is a sports and media company that specializes in data-driven content creation and distribution.
“At Whistle, our playbook is focused on creating shareable moments in sports culture,” Team Whistle VP of brand partnerships Corey Radel said. “We were so excited to partner with both Xfinity and Christian to deliver these commercial assets across the social platforms our audience will be scrolling while they’re watching the big game on February 11th.”
