Aaron Rodgers stars in ‘This Is SportsCenter’-style office mockumentary for Amberjack shoes

Aaron Rodgers’ season may have ended prematurely on Monday night, but the endorsement game continues—as the New York Jets quarterback is starring in a just-released mockumentary campaign for Amberjack dress shoes.

Amberjack, in which Rodgers is an investor, partnered with creative agency Bacon & Eggs Media on a “This Is SportsCenter”-style two-minute workplace comedy, starring the quarterback as just another Amberjack co-worker.

“They reached out and said, hey, Aaron Rodgers is a part of our company, he wants to invest in us, and if there’s a chance, we want you guys to help us write content and create an ad campaign,” Kia Zomorrodi, chief creative officer at Bacon & Eggs, told Ad Age.

The resulting film, directed by Quinn Wilson, proves that once an athlete, always an athlete—as we see Rodgers using his football moves and tactics in the office, with comical results.

The video humorously references real-life events, such as the news earlier this year that Rodgers attended a complete-darkness retreat to figure out where he would play football next season. In the spot, we see Rodgers wearing an eye mask and asking a co-worker to turn the lights out to help him decide whether the company should lead with top-of-the-line insole or outsole features in its shoes.

“We wanted to make sure we tied in some pop-culture headlines about Aaron when we wrote this script so it would fit him, rather than creating a new character for him to play in an office setting,” said Zomorrodi.

He added: “When I brought up the idea of mentioning the ayahuasca and darkness retreats, Aaron said, ‘What if I said the lines and then put on this darkness mask that I brought?’ He was totally on board for the jokes.” 

Scheduling the shoot was a challenge, particularly since HBO had picked up the New York Jets for the new season of “Hard Knocks,” making Rodgers availability even less predictable. But in the end, they were able to make it happen.

“We flew out to New York City and filmed it. And the postproduction was also just an insanely fast turnaround,” said Zomorrodi. 

News of Rodgers’ torn Achilles tendon, suffered early in Monday night’s game against the Buffalo Bills, obviously came as a shock to the agency and brand. But they are staying the course with the new work.

“We’re devastated for Aaron, as we became such big fans of him and the Jets,” Zomorrodi told Ad Age on Tuesday. “But ultimately, he’s still a New York Jet and one of the greatest to ever play, so the campaign is still set to run as planned.”

Amberjack began talking to Rodgers in 2020 during the pandemic, before the brand had even launched. Rodgers became an investor in 2021, saying he was impressed by the company’s goals of sustainability and product innovation.

“As I have gotten older, I want to be a part of brands that have a similar focus and views on life and doing good in the world,” Rodgers said in a statement. “Every time we talked there was more conversation around sustainability, materials and innovation, and the more excited I got about doing something that nobody has done in this space before.”