A new 60-second commercial for DraftKings’ NFT-based fantasy sports game Reignmakers Football starring Kevin Hart as the omnipotent ruler of the “Kevinverse,” and featuring NFL stars Stefon Diggs, Ezekiel Elliott and Lamar Jackson, came out last week.
If you missed it then, you likely heard about it via Undisputed, with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe.
In the latest episode of the program, Skip reacts to the DraftKings commercial; other reactions have since followed on social media.
Here’s the ad, and the reason for the ad, as DraftKings expands into the daily fantasy sports market.
WATCH: Ezekiel Elliott, Stefon Diggs and Lamar Jackson trapped in Kevin Hart’s ‘Kevinverse’
DraftKings is adding an NFT component to its daily fantasy sports (DFS) offerings.
On August 15, 2022 it let everyone know it was doing so, via its Reignmakers “The Kevinverse” commercial, starring Kevin Hart and NFL stars Ezekiel Elliott, Lamar Jackson and Stefon Diggs.
Watch a 30-second version of the TV spot below, via YouTube.
It has so far picked up just over 6.5K views on the platform. Reactions vary: the top comment describes the full version of the commercial as “godlike” and “hilarious”; another claims the NFT Reignmaker promotion will “go down as one of the all time wastes of cash in sports betting history.”
What is the Reignmakers ‘Kevinverse’ ad all about?
AdWeek actually beat the August 16 YouTube upload of the DraftKings ad by writing about the TV spot on August 15. It also has the full, 60-second version of the ad – the version on YouTube only runs to 30 seconds.
DraftKings is gearing up for the NFL season with Reignmakers Football, fantasy sports game built around non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The idea is that players will create lineups using the NFTs of players they own, each week of the season.
“Reignmakers Football sits at the intersection of sports and Web3,” AdWeek quotes DraftKings chief marketing officer Stephanie Sherman as saying. Which, she added, “will give us a unique marketing opportunity to bring something new to our traditional DFS customers and early NFT adopters.”
‘The next generation of fantasy football’
“As what we believe will be the next generation of fantasy football,” Sherman told AdWeek, “the game will feature utility spanning the entire DraftKings ecosystem along with in-person experiences.”
“Hart was a natural choice for us,” she added, “a huge sports fan for his native Philadelphia teams and someone who brings tremendous entertainment value to the spot.”
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“We were excited to surround him with some of the game’s biggest stars leading into this season.”
The commercial features Kevin Hart as the mercurial master of the “Kevinverse,” in which NFL players Stefon Diggs, Ezekiel Elliott and Lamar Jackson unwittingly find themselves.
How have people reacted to the commercial featuring Ezekiel Elliott and Kevin Hart?
As mentioned above, Skip Bayless reacts to it during the latest episode of Undisputed, which likely brought new audiences to the spot.
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Others have tweeted in favour of the ad.
One Twitter user says it ran several times during the Atlanta Falcons versus New York Jets game that took place on Monday.
Kevin Hart is no stranger to commercials. iSpot tracks 131 nationally aired TV ad campaigns featuring the actor and comedian, including commercials for films he’s starred in such as Jumanji. He’s advertised SiriusXM and JP Morgan Chase, and now DraftKings’ Reignmakers fantasy football game, among others.