Extra! Extra! My debut.

It is a little known fact that the Minnesota Timberwolves aren't the only ones producing NBA advertisements in their home city. It is better known, that Minneapolis is a top 5 mecca for advertising and marketing activity in the nation, so it comes as no surprise that a local agency would be responsible for a team other than the Wolves. That team happens to be the Detroit Pistons and the agency is Olson & Company.

Olson is a feel-good story of an ad guru (John Olson) that leaves one of town's top agencies to create an up-start innovative agency that would establish a new precedent for advertising in the Twin Cities. The Pistons took notice of John's quick success, and hired Olson and his chums to produce award-winning content that would drive fans back in the seats during the early 2000's. That relationship began prior to the Pistons championship run and the Pistons were so impressed with the efforts of Olson's creative team and their campaign (that called fans to come to work with the team) that when the team did win their championship rings in 2004, they awarded several rings to Olson & his crew too.

That relationship stands strong today, and this week an open-casting call (Craigslist) for extras brought me to the streets of Minneapolis to film a TV spot for the Pistons. It was an eye-opening experience for someone that has friends who make a living in film/tv and has heard many stories of what being an extra involves. The shoot took place over several hours at and around Emerson Immersion school near Eat Street.

Our tasks as extras involved being a part of a mob that flocked to a street ball court. I won't disclose the rest of the plot, but the shoot called for us to run up and down street blocks many times, had several individuals climbing fences and all in all took over 4 hours for what will likely be 10 seconds of footage.

Having worked in the ad industry, it is not surprising that it took so long to capture so little. It was cool to be a part of the experience and the crew was extremely polite. I had a great time getting to know the other extras, who came from all walks of life, and have an itch to begin doing more work of this nature in the future...hopefully with luck I'll get paid the next time.

Look for the commercial at Pistons.com this fall.