Brian Cox is an ‘overly direct spokesperson’ badgering you to get DirecTV in new campaign

‘Succession’ star anchors first spots in company’s new brand strategy platform, ‘Entertainment Without Compromise’

Published On
Apr 06, 2023
Actor Brian Cox sitting in a leather chair and angrily pointing a remote control

Editor's Pick

Brian Cox puts the direct in DirecTV, bluntly criticizing those who have streaming and cable for their poor choices in a raft of new spots from TBWA\Chiat\Day LA.

The “Succession” star has long perfected curmudgeonly characters, and here he’s comically exasperated by what he sees as obviously stupid decisions. 

“Let me be direct,” he says in opening the spot below, with a measure of restraint—before quickly losing it. “You’re doing TV wrong!”

 

The campaign goes on to blast DirecTV’s competitors on various common consumer pain point—everything from channel selection to performance to customer service—with Cox giving some “direct” tough love to encourage people to switch.

Three more spots extend the idea, with themes involving water-cooler talk at work, a weird neighbor and a cable guy who’s both late and an aggressively poor driver.

 
 
 

Along with the spots above, there will be six more :15s. The work will run for nine months on TV, OLV, social and digital channels. There are also four radio spots.

“We’ve made it possible for DirecTV satellite and DirecTV internet customers to experience entertainment without compromise by providing the greatest variety of live and on-demand shows, sports and movies as well as seamless access to their favorite apps all without switching TV inputs,” said Vince Torres, chief marketing officer of DirecTV.

“I thoroughly enjoy being the Overly Direct Spokesperson in the new TV campaign for DirecTV,” said Cox. “The main broadcast spot is truly an ode to all that DirecTV is doing to simplify their TV watching experience.”

“Other than being an incredibly seasoned and accomplished actor, we knew Brian could really pay off a ‘direct’ character and deliver on the type of tone we wanted our direct spokesperson to communicate—stern but still accessible and relatable,” added Jason Karley, executive creative director at TBWA\Chiat\Day.

Credits

Date
Apr 06, 2023
Client :
DirecTV
Agency :
TBWA/Chiat/Day-Los Angeles
Chief Marketing Officer :
Vince Torres
VP Brand & Creative :
Kendall Thaker
AVP Advertising & Creative Services :
Sheri Holmes
Director Advertising :
Jenn Wang
Senior Manager Advertising :
Ty Tanioka:
Chief Creative Officer :
Renato Fernandez
Group Creative Director :
Jason Karley
Creative Director :
Mark Winters
Creative Director :
Ryan Buckley
Creative Director :
Josh DiMarcantonio
Copywriter :
Jessica Nugent
Art Director :
Rachel Findlay
Chief Design Officer :
Bruno Regalo
Designer :
Ekaterina Cervantes
Designer :
Qi Tan
Executive Director of Production :
Anh-Thu Le
Senior Producer :
Alicia Portner
Associate Producer :
Tyler Hock
Executive Art Producer :
Dena Moore
Art Producer :
Aliza Grover
Art Producer :
Ted Copeland
Director of Traffic Operations :
Dessiah Davis
Traffic Manager :
Marian Cabasso
Director of Business Affairs :
Robin Rossi
Senior Business Affairs Manager :
Emily Machtinger
CEO :
Erin Riley
Group Brand Lead :
Matt Theisen
Brand Director :
Emily Gill
Management Supervisor :
Carlos Quintanilla
Brand Executive :
Dalton Butler
Brand Executive :
Justin Rocha
Project Manager :
Lawrence Gonzales
Chief Strategy Officer :
Jen Costello
Group Strategy Director :
Jesse Unger
Associate Strategy Director :
Sheida Karami
Strategist :
Hannah Schweitzer
Associate Director of Connections :
Kevin Bautista
Senior Director of Data :
Laura Mayer
Data Strategist :
Josh Brinkmann
Production Company :
Caviar
Director :
Jody Hill
DP :
Peter Donahue
Executive Producer :
Michael Ssgal
Executive Producer :
Kim Dellara
Head of Production :
Cat Craven-Griffiths
Producer :
Bernard Rahill
Editorial :
ARCADE
Editor :
Geoff Hounsell
Assistant Editor :
Fernando Raigoza
Executive Producer :
Crissy DeSimone
Head of Production :
Megan Dahlman
Senior Producer :
Alexa Atkin Berman
VFX :
Parliament
VFX Supervisor :
Nathan Kane
Creative Lead :
Taner Besen
Creative Lead :
John McIntosh
Creative Team :
Dan Adams
Creative Team :
Damien Cho
Creative Team :
James Cudahy
Creative Team :
Adam Deutsch
Creative Team :
Kathleen Kirkman
Creative Team :
Jay Lee
Production Team :
Anna Kravtsov
Production Team :
Kate Matos
Production Team :
Lexi Steam
Color :
Royal Muster
Colorist :
Gregory Reese
Executive Producer :
Thatcher Peterson
Music :
String & Tins
Sound Design :
String & Tins
Audio Post Production :
String & Tins
Sound Design :
Jim Stewart
Sound Design :
Culum Simpson
Audio Producer :
Laura-Leigh Smith
Music Supervision :
Mike Bamford
Music Supervision :
Olivia Endersby
Mix :
Lime
Executive Producer :
Susie Boyajan
Associate Producer :
Cassie Underwood
Sound Mixer :
Matt Miller
Assistant Mixer :
Ian Connie
EVP :
David Azulay

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