“It’s the bond of trust that we’ve been able to create with people versus people just for hire,” DeLuca said. “Actors for hire versus actors who are participating in our creative process is the unlock to making brilliant work.”
That spirit of cooperation extends to more recent additions to T-Mobile’s celebrity circle as well. Common first worked with Panay Films on voiceovers for Microsoft Super Bowl ads in 2015 before eventually getting on camera for the company’s spots. He said his work with Klugman as a director at the time showed him where there was room within marketing for what he was already doing artistically.
Common was introduced to T-Mobile through Panay last year and produced ad for Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro. After that commercial released, Common noticed an uptick in people approaching in him public—including parents with young kids—and was receptive when T-Mobile sought him out for their latest Super Bowl work with Panay. This time around, he was able to improvise an audition using lines (and costume) from Denzel Washington’s crooked cop character Alonzo in 2001’s Training Day.
“I was excited, because most of the work that I’ve done for marketing and commercials was really statesmanlike and more on a serious note—talking about things that could affect the society,” he said. “People sometimes assume that I think I’m just the coolest guy, but I don’t—I feel like I’m an authentic person and a true person, but I tell dad jokes, I say goofy things and corny things.”
Selling the bit
In what’s become a collaborative staple of T-Mobile and Panay’s Super Bowl spots, the celebrities involved often suggest or improvise their mix of quips and brand facts. In each musical ad that T-Mobile and Panay Films have done with Braff and Faison, for example, features of T-Mobile’s 5G home internet product are rewritten into the lyrics of Steven Sondheim’s “I Feel Pretty” from West Side Story, “Summer Nights” from Grease or Irene Cara’s Flashdance…What a Feeling” from Flashdance.
“The Panay team brought this concept to us and we loved it, but we said, ‘Okay, how do you go about executing something this big was so many celebrities and do it on such a fast timeline, and also deliver the message?’ DeLuca said.