It’s been almost a year since Alex Ovechkin signed a multi-year endorsement deal with Papa John’s, and fans are finally getting a glimpse of The Great Eight slinging pies in his first television commercial for the chain.
RMNB got an exclusive first look at the 30-second spot, which imagines Ovi’s hockey career was a plan B to his first dream: to become the gr8est pizza delivery boy in the whole wide world.
Video
It’s Moscow in 1992, and a young, gap-toothed Alexander is seen pumping his legs on his tiny Russian bike.
Fast-forward to Arlington, Virginia, and the year is 2001, where we see Ovi trying – and failing – to deliver pizzas in a gaudy, yellow, 1985 Trabant 601.
Ovi, c’mon, dude. You need to put the pizzas in the car before driving.
Ovi, the pizzas aren’t newspapers…
Okay, that’s just creepy.
According to the commercial’s timeline, Ovi actually invested three years into chasing his pizza dream in Arlington, Virginia, before giving up and becoming one of the greatest goal-scorers of all time.
And although Ovi didn’t fulfill his childhood wish, his hockey career has put him in a position to help other kids fulfill theirs through the Ovechkin Wish Special at PapaJohns.com. The special includes two medium, one-topping pizzas for $8 each (get it?). $1 from each sale goes to Make-A-Wish Mid-Atlantic, and get this: it’s already raised more than $36,000!
Long-form version of the commercial
Related Links:
– RMNB goes behind the scenes of the commercial
– Ovechkin casually puck-juggles during downtime of the shoot
– Props from the commercial, including Ovi’s PIZZA shirts, are up for auction to benefit Make-A-Wish
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