Hamm and Brie are stuck in the fridge with a jar of Hellmann’s — say what?!
Cheeses and peppers and pickles—oh my!
Jon Hamm and Brie Larson are stuck in a strange environment for Hellmann’s teaser ahead of the brand’s Super Bowl 57 commercial, with both A-listers circling a mayonnaise jar in geographical confusion.
Take a look at the 15-second spot with the now pint-sized duo below.
Will Hamm and Brie get out of the fridge?! That’s the build Hellmann’s will answer with the full 30-second ad.
Solid puns aside, the commercial’s creative looks to highlight the vital issue of food waste at home, encouraging people to do more with what’s in their fridge and ‘Make Taste, Not Waste.’
It’s a continued effort by Hellmann’s, one that brings a focus to Super Bowl Sunday—the second most wasteful food day of the year in the U.S., trailing only Thanksgiving—with past creative efforts toward the overall campaign having looked to big-name talents like Amy Schumer and Pete Davidson.
This time, the brand likes the star-power combo (albeit a shrunken iteration) to help headline the messaging when the curtain lifts on advertising’s biggest stage on February 12.
“We’re so excited to have award-winning actors Jon Hamm and Brie Larson star in our Big Game commercial this year,” said Ben Crook, Vice President/GM, Dressings & Condiments (NA) at Unilever. “With names like Hamm and Brie, there are no better partners to help us inspire viewers to think creatively about the ingredients found in the fridge at a moment like the Big Game, the second most wasteful food day of the year in the U.S.”
Super Bowl Commercial Royalty returns as Office Linebacker Terry Tate helps Jerod Mayo and Hellmann’s for the 2022 big game campaign.
Lester Speight joined—no, wait; he burst into—the video-call interview, his charismatic voice echoing through his cell phone. You can rarely feel someone’s energy and excitement so much that it raises the level of a conference chat and makes you feel like you’ve just rushed out of the tunnel for the Super Bowl while the crowd chants your name. But when you’re the iconic Office Linebacker Terry Tate, would you expect anything less?
“What’s up, crew!” Speight exclaimed, followed by a few laughs. And thus, my chat with the man behind one of the more memorable Super Bowl commercial characters was underway…
Suppose you haven’t heard of Lester Speight or his iconic persona, Terry Tate. In that case, all you’d need to do is a quick search on the internet and you’ll be inundated with videos and nostalgia of the most feared office worker in…well, commercial history.
Like most Hollywood tales, however, the journey that led to the 60 seconds of Super Bowl infamy in 2003 has an interesting backstory, with notes in the script’s margins that began years earlier.
“Going into it, it was like a short film,” Speight remembered.
It kicked off with one writer-director’s realization about the odd lunchroom lurking in office spaces and how a Minnesota Vikings legend could put an end to them. The man behind the concept was Rawson Marshall Thurber—whose work you might now recognize in films such as “Central Intelligence,” “We’re the Millers” and “DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story.”
“I think he had worked for one of the agencies at the time,” Speight explained, “and always thought it was funny, people taking other people’s food out of the refrigerator. Then, he was watching Monday Night Football one night—he was watching John Randle’s tactics and antics—and thought it would be perfect to have a football player in the office to regulate [those things].”
Thurber got to work on writing scenes for the comedic vision, which would need an actor that personified the same type of explosive mannerisms that Randle produced with such natural ease.
Around that time, on the other side of the U.S., Speight was at his home in Baltimore when his agent called, passing along an update that actors always love to hear: I have a perfect role for you.
His agent faxed over the script—Lester emphasized “faxing” the same way you’d add inflection to “house phone” to younger generations today—and as he candidly explained, what printed out before him was an expletive-laced masterpiece.
More importantly, it was one that the 6-foot-6 former pro football player saw himself as the perfect fit to portray.
“If I can do anything in this town, I can do this right here!” he proclaimed. “Because I like to think of myself as one of the best [cursers] in the world—I’m right up there with Samuel L. Jackson…the late, great Bernie Mac.”
Apparently, he was accurate in the assessment. Speight auditioned and got the part, which then carried on the standard progressions, moving from production to shoot…to the frustrating unknowns of the Hollywood waiting game.
“You gotta keep in mind, this was 2000, 2001,” he reflected. “We sent the video around to agents and producers, and it was like this internet thing— they would look at it and laugh.”
Yet, nothing substantial happened.
Until the video landed in the inbox of Peter Arnell.
Arnell’s agency represented Reebok at the time, which turned out to be a coveted lucky break that had Speight on a plane to Boston for an international sales meeting in November of 2002, just a few months away from the 2003 Super Bowl.
“They were showing all the sales reps the new videos,” Speight recalled. “I think Venus Williams had one, Allen Iverson had one, the clientele at the time. And then, they put in one of [Office Linebacker Terry Tate] and the place erupted like it was a WWE wrestling match. People went crazy!”
To add to the presentation, the moment was capped off by an unexpected live demonstration involving then CMO Muktesh “Micky” Pant, who was sitting up on the stage as the video played.
“So things start to calm down, and Micky’s phone rings,” Speight remembers while hinting at the clear office etiquette foul. “He answers it, talking to his wife about whatever he’s going to bring home for dinner— totally unprofessional, right?
“People didn’t know I was there, and out the back comes Triple-T himself! I blasted Micky over the chair, ripping his Armani suit, and then—he pauses here, reflecting, but also, ever the showman, knowing full well this was the perfect buildup.
“How did it go? …
…
“You know you can’t be on the phone unless you all alone!”
The rest was history.
The 2003 Super Bowl Reebok ad was an instant hit, adding cinematic life to Thurber’s MNF musings that combined relatable subject matter with the physical comedy of Speight’s spot-on characterization. The 60-second spot would take 6th in the 2003 USA TODAY Ad Meter ratings and win the golden lion award at the Cannes film festival, considered by many to be the highest award in advertising.
None of it was something Lester had envisioned, though, his voice calming as he ended our 10-minute Office Patrolling Odyssey. “We had no idea how big it would get.”
However, Terry Tate’s shift wasn’t over.
Much like the nostalgia-heavy throwbacks that have reintroduced some of the legends of the big game ads, an entirely new generation of fans now have the opportunity in 2022 to meet the persona etched in Super Bowl Commercial lore—this time, in his new role as Special Ops for Hellmann’s.
Speight has teamed up with the food brand to advance the company’s zero food waste initiative, which happens to incorporate familiar territory: The Super Bowl commercial world.
“Man, I’m just like a little kid all over again,” his energy whirling as he went into the details of Terry Tate’s follow-up act.
“Triple-T, he had to pass the torch over to Jerod,” Speight explained, alluding to the classic scenario where the student has not become the teacher. “He handles all the shenanigans, while Terry Tate is just sitting back in his executive chair, doing arm curls.”
As Micky Pant would probably agree, just make sure that Terry Tate doesn’t answer his cell phone (unless he is all alone) while Jerod is patrolling.
Watch the extended cut of Hellmann’s Super Bowl 56 commercial with Jerod Mayo and Pete Davidson:
