Piranha Territory

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THE CLIENT: Minnesota Twins
THE AGENCY: Periscope
THE SELL: Get multimillion-dollar players “off their pedestals”
THE TEAM: Creative directors Charlie Callahan and Brien Spanier, art director Quan Hoang
SEE IT: All over local TV and at minnesotatwins.com

Last year, Periscope’s “Twins Territory” commercials hit directly into the cultural sweet spot that transforms an ad campaign into a folk phenomenon—and turned Joe Mauer's removable sideburns into the hottest piece of kitsch since the homer hanky. Periscope hopes to perform a trickier operation this season by reverse-engineering another ‘06 folk phenomenon—and transform the Twins’ “Piranhas” nickname (given to the team by White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen) into an ad campaign. (Guillen has already joked about royalties.) The commercial, filmed at Mall of America’s Underwater World, features a father and daughter touring the aquarium and coming upon submerged Twins infielders Nick Punto and Jason Bartlett, in full uniform, complete with cleats and gloves. “It just proves how humble these guys are,” says Callahan. “Spending a whole day getting dunked in a shark tank isn’t fun.”