ESPN Music

Music, storytelling merge in ESPN Deportes’ Pan Am Games campaign

Editor’s note: For Spanish text,click here.

Three months ago, ESPN Deportes’ marketing team embarked on a journey that took it to Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and several cities across the U.S.

The goal was to capture the motivation, dedication and competitive spirit of some of the most recognized athletes as they prepare to participate in the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games (July 10-26) and combine the passion of sports with powerful lyrics and music for #YoDigoPresente (in English, “#I’m In”).

Tomás Casabal, promotions producer for ESPN, led the taping and production of the campaign that launches today.

When we met with these athletes, we felt we had a unique opportunity to create an emotional connection between sports fans and the Pan Am Games by sharing their stories.
– Santa Brito, associate director of consumer marketing for ESPN Deportes

“It was an amazing experience to see the training routine of these incredible athletes firsthand, listen to their stories and learn about their talent and the techniques that makes them great at what they do,” he said.

According to Santa Brito, associate director of consumer marketing for ESPN Deportes, when the team started the creative process for this campaign, the one insight that they kept coming back to was “the power of storytelling.

“When we met with these athletes, we felt we had a unique opportunity to create an emotional connection between sports fans and the Pan Am Games by sharing their stories,” said Brito.

“Once we got started, we began to see a common theme — through their everyday training; these athletes were living the moment of what it would be like to represent their country on such a big international stage. This is how we decided that Calle 13’s ‘La Vida, Respira el Momento’ would be the perfect theme song to complement the campaign.”

“Throughout the production, we wanted to make sure we capture as much as we could from the athletes,” said Casabal. “And when we recorded with Calle 13 at their studios, we realized the music and lyrics were ideal for the theme of our campaign, supporting the story we wanted to convey.”

The music of Calle 13, a multiple-Grammy Award-winning urban alternative band, and specifically, their song “La Vida, Respira el Momento” (or “Life, Breath the Moment”) about the journey of life and individuality not only capture the essence of the Games but also resonate across the diverse Hispanic audience.

In the video below, René from Calle 13 explains more about the song and its connection to the Games.

Video produced by Tomás Casabal

Calle 13 Backstage Final from ESPNFrontRow on Vimeo.

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