C A D I L L A C : Teddy Bridgewater, Spike Lee, a promise and the NFL draft
case study
We pitched Cadillac with a strategy around making your own luck. And we noticed a common behavior of people who made their luck. From Muhammad Ali to Elvis and even Marylin Monroe, when they arrived at success, they bought mom a Cadillac. Teddy Bridgwater knew he wanted to do that in the 3rd grade, when I heard this I knew we had to help make it happen.
The client liked the idea, but thought it was just a small content play. In fact he wanted to give the idea to his cousin who was on the list of GM approved vendors. You know who else was on that list of approved vendors? Spike Lee.
I made my case for Spike.
He came on board and brought in Robin Roberts, a cancer survivor like Teddy’s mom Rose. A few days after mother’s day Robin threw Rose a party in NYC where her surprise Escalade was revealed. Robin then invited her and Teddy on Good Morning America. We worked through the night to have the film ready. We walked the streets of NY from Lost Planet to the mix house with Spike at 2:30am. We got the film to GMA on time, 5am, and Teddy and Rose had a great visit but GMA didn’t play the film, didn’t even mention it.
Dejected and sitting alone at the Laguardia Marine Air terminal bar, at 8am, I ordered a mimosa and let my eyes glaze over Sportscenter. I noticed a headline about Teddy, and then a graphic from the film, and then they played the entire 7 min film in the middle of the program!
The clip went viral and the story was buzzing everywhere. Teddy was a first round draft pick. Some speculate this PR bump kept him in the first round, as he had a poor performance in his pro-day showcase.
Teddy crossed the stage after talking to the commissioner and was greeted by Dion Sanders. Dion’s very first question?
“How’s your mom like that Escalade?”
