Consider this a left-handed compliment: Time Warner Cable has better commercials promoting their cable service than they do actual cable service. That’s not an exaggeration. Anyone who lives in New York has either experienced firsthand or heard of the terrible reception and customer service. And for anyone planning on writing some snarky, contrarian comment about your perfect Time Warner service, don’t jinx the good cable karma by being an idiot.

That being said, Time Warner is back with another commercial about its sports package, which, according to the above spot, can be watched on just about every mobile device ever created. Victor Cruz, the man in half of all commercials on television, makes an appearance along with golfer Ian Poulter, driver Kasey Kahne, and former NFL coach/current CBS football analyst Bill Cowher (who tipsters have been taking for his acting skills in the last few days). The spot is a short and clever way to include four endorsers at once, a compliment directed completely at the agency behind this, Ogilvy, not Time Warner itself.

In closing, one more reason to dislike Time Warner Cable: Victor Cruz has one contract with TWC and zero contracts with the New York Giants. See another TWC spot with Cowher and Cruz called “The Test” after the jump.

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We spend the weeks before the Super Bowl watching loops of highlights and anticipating how popular brands will use their four-million-dollar ad slots, but rarely do we do both at the same time. However, this year is special. After we’ve trampled on all obvious storylines—the retirement of Ray Lewis, Harbaugh genetics, Kaepernicking, etc.—the real clue to Super Bowl XLVII may come down to a pair of Visa commercials from five months ago.

Visa launched their NFL Fan Offers campaign in the fall, giving football fiends the chance to win prizes like Super Bowl tickets or a hangout session with John Madden. To promote the program, Visa ran two significant commercials: one for the Baltimore Ravens, and one for the San Francisco 49ers. With respect to DVR, you may be vaguely aware of NFL Fan Offers, because FOX and CBS ran the commercials so many times each Sunday that I was almost ready to petition for the “Can You Hear Me Now?” guy to come back in their place.

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Choosing between Andrew McCutchen and Matt Kemp may be a more difficult decision than Obama v. Romney, but Deutsch LA and Playstation have empowered baseball fans by letting them vote on the cover subject of MLB13: The Show. Think of it as an election with no negative campaigning, backstabbing, or general political pessimism. The only sad part for me is that no Mets are on the ballot, but for everyone’s sanity, that’s probably a good thing.

The video game will hit shelves March 5th, and fans can select from a pool of seven different players including McCutchen, Kemp, Buster Posey, C.C. Sabathia, Ryan Braun, Miguel Cabrera, and Bryce Harper. Each player made 30-second clips explaining why he should be chosen over the other candidates. Athletes can’t act (other than Victor Cruz), but you should check out the videos on Youtube if you want to learn how to get dreads like McCutchen or hear trophy cleaning techniques from Mr. Posey.

Let’s hope this baseball vote goes differently than the Hall-of-Fame vote from earlier in the week, otherwise Playstation might have to go to Plan B and put a Met on the cover.

BBDO New York is back at it again for Foot Locker, continuing a fairly winning campaign for the sportswear/footwear chain and  shifting this time from NBA stars to NFL ones. Before the chants of “Cruuuuuuuuuz” ensue, let us tell you that this latest advert, which premiered last night, does indeed star New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz and his counterpart/teammate, Hakeem Nicks. Yes, Hakeem, we would react/act the same way were we to receive a fishing hat for Christmas, and therein lies the plot of this spot. The jury’s still out, though, on who’s the better thespian, the Giants wideouts or QB Eli Manning. Credits after the jump.

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