In an attempt to update its stores and its image, RadioShack does something few brands have the backbone to do: It acknowledges reality. The reality in this case is that if Americans think of Radio Shack at all, it's as a relic. So, the young store employee, after answering the phone, announces, "The 80s called. They want their store back."
And in a perfectly Super Bowlian moment, courtesy of GSD&M, in storms a horde of 80s icons, real and imaginary. There's Mary Lou Retton, Twisted Sister's Dee Snyder, Alf, Ponch, Kid (and Play), Hulk Hogan, Chucky and more. After they ransack the place, we're treated to the updated look of Radio Shack.
"Phone Call" was perhaps the best ad of Super Bowl XLVIII. The client may have been too far past its heyday for brilliant marketing to save it: RadioShack, which had not reported a profit since 2011, filed for Chapter 11 in February 2015, a little over one year after "The Phone Call" debuted.
Director: Frank Todaro. Production company: Moxie Pictures. Executive producer: Karol Zeno. Director of photgraphy: Jimi Whitaker.
Executive creative director: Jay Russell. Group creative directors: Scott Brewer, Ryan Carroll. Creative director/art director: Tim Eger. Creative director/writer: Tom Hamling. Agency executive producer: Bill Wine. Producers: Flo Babbitt, Alison Wagner. Experience/insight: Klaudia Flanigin. Line producer: Laura Heflin. Wardrobe stylist: Susie Carlson. Music: Loverboy. Graphics: The Mill. Audio: Lime. VFX: Cut & Run. Editor: Jay Nelson. Project manager: Ryan Gallagher. Business affairs: Jennifer Kennedy.
BRAND: Radio Shack
YEAR: 2014
AGENCY: GSD&M
SUPERBOWL: XLVIII
QUARTER AIRED: Q1