Not to speak for headhunter, but at the very least somebody could have explained to johnny what motor neurons are.

Because he is 'internationally known' (really?) for portraying a fat, dumb, Northern slob stereotype, which represents the exact stereotype that Sky Sports and others are desperate to associate with RL.

A lot of people involved in RL seem to live in a bubble and don't understand how the outside world views them. What do you think people from London, or anywhere else really who are not already familiar with the product will think of RL when they see that advert? What type of image do you think it associates with the sport? Why do you think we get virtually zero mainstream coverage and are treated nationally as a laughing stock? Why do you think our elite flagship competition is sponsored by ing mushy peas, and outside commentators and academics are saying it's a good fit and an example of a brand knowing its target market? Is there anything about RL that means it should only appeal to fat thickos who like mushy peas? I must be missing it if so, to me it's an unrivaled sporting product which sadly for its entire history been populated by a certain oblivious demographic who seem happy to accept the establishment literally laughing in their face.

Oh I got the point, but, was trying to understand whether you thought that in an ideal world we would have our sport advertised by someone that is northern, cultured AND a Rugby League fan and obviously a recognisable public figure and if so who are they?

Further, if this cross between Brian Cox and Eddie Warring doesn't exist, which of these qualities do you think are most deserving to knock Johnny off his perch to market the start of SL 2017?

The first 'quality' must be a Rugby League fan, surely?

If you had got the point you would understand the irrelevancy of your question.

Having given you another chance to correspond, the only thing that is irrelevant is you, enjoy it.

Its a crushing disappointment that I wasted my chance to correspond with you. It is of course everybodys dream to repeatedly have to explain simple things to those being deliberately obtuse.

Northern = lots of things. Therefore Johnny Vegas ≠ Northern. Its not a difficult thing to understand.

Not as crushed as I am, I told you that I already got that bit, after all it's not that difficult to understand.

By the way, here you are corresponding, whilst you are at it you could have simply answered my question, or ignored it if you thought it was an irrelevance, but, no you chose standard Smokey guff...tiresome stuff

Elucidating you to its irrelevance is answering your question.

I thought it was pretty funny. It gets people up and excited for the upcoming season, while not taking itself too serious. At the same time, whether people like to call Vegas fat or thick, he's a very well known and loved comedian all over the UK and it may get those not familiar with the game a cause to have a look & see what he's so passionate about. Ateotd it's the sort of promo that goes viral all over social media. Imo it's also better and more memorable than the other ones Sky have done in the past with Bradley Wiggins & Mark Webber, talking about how much they like RL.

Some people will literally moan about anything.



I thought it was pretty funny and a lot more likely for people to take notice of than just bland footage of some tries or whatever.

I put it on facebook and sent it round a few social groups and people thought it was good.

The point of the advert is to stand out, only people with a massive chip on their shoulder would imagine non RL fans watching that and going "oh i'm not watching that - its just for fat northerners!"

He's not my cup of tea in particular, but Johnny Vegas is a well know, popular TV figure, who clearly loves the game. Any other famous fans available to do an RL advert I wonder?

Man who's very passionate about his sport... doesn't feel similar passion for other sports shocker!!!!

That pretty much describes most sports fans worldwide. NRL fans dislike Baseball, Union fans dislike league, Football fans dislike both codes of Rugby.....
I know i'm generalising and lots of people enjoy many sports but a much, much higher percentage don't.

Any halfwit who can't see this advert for what it is, seriously just needs to take a break from the internet and stop looking for things to moan about or be offended by.

Like someone else said earlier, I hope Mr Vegas keeps popping up all season with similar promos. It'd be superb.

Pretty much this...

It's obvious that there could be much more positive promotion by Sky, the RFL and the clubs themselves around the sport and their own part in it, but as a standalone promo for the start of the new season, the Johnny Vegas thing is just fine. He's a well known, popular comedy character with a very high profile, and he loves RL; so it does what it sets out to do - uses his established persona to rant about the game he loves.

Bit too much overthinking going on I'd suggest.

I personally liked the ad, thought it had attention grabbing humour and is memorable. There is a great skill to be had in marketing and the routine showing of action clips is what we've had all year long for decades. A change is refreshing.

As for other famous fans to promote the sport, would they work? Such as Wayne Rooney / Ryan Giggs - big fans of the game but closely associated with football. Or Michael Parkinson although people associate him with his love of cricket (I was surprised he never even referenced Wakefield Trinity in his biography even though he used to be a director of the club many years ago.)

It might not be who you are, it might not be who I am, but here's the thing; it might actually be who "we" are - or at least how "we" are perceived by the sort of audiences that Sky is targeting with this ad.

Sky know their audience a hell of a lot better than you or I, and they're an organisation that is pretty good at this marketing lark.

Sky's job isn't to act as the RFLs branding and PR agency, and it isn't to get people to pay £20 to get into Totally Wicked Langtree or whatever it's called. Sky's job is to get people sat down on their sofas next Thursday night. To do that, it's going to have to try and talk to the people who are most likely to do just that and for whatever reason, they have decided that Jonny Vegas is the person to 'sell' that message. As I said earlier, it's very easy to create an ad that isn't believable. You can't levy that criticism at this one.

If you want Super League to portray a more sophisticated image and to reach out to new audiences, that's all well and good. But direct that feedback to the Super League clubs and the RFL. They're the ones responsible for that.

So, despite criticising Sky and Mr Vegas, you haven't given us an alternative.
Come on, name some names and the type of advert that we should have had.

There isnt an alternative. The very concept of a person representing 'Northern' is nonsense.

BTW, if you look back, i havent said we shouldn't have used Johnny Vegas.

I'm not sure if Vegas is representing "Northern" or just a vaguely famous comedian who has been chosen to front Sky's advert for the up coming season.
He is Northern but, that may not be the point of the advert.
It appears to be trying to convey, just how passionate RL supporters are about the sport and it's trying to say that nothing means as much to him as supporting RL, which to many people on this forum, would be correct.

One thing the advert has achieved, it's got people talking about it. Hats off to sky for that.

It certainly has.
And what's even better is there's only a couple of snobs popped up on here putting the promo and the fans down, which is unusual for something like this

"[iA nerve cell forming part of a pathway along which impulses pass from the brain or spinal cord to a muscle or gland[/i."
Not sure what you point is

Niether is he

The spinal cord cells responsible for movement popping off in my brain does not sound like an enjoyable experience to me. It sounds 'spine chilling'

Not just in spinal cord and not just movement, motor neurons are cells that are found in all nerves, there is a clear reference in my quote to "Glands" which in my opinion is a good reference to my vegas's statement in the video, I'm thinking maybe someone needed to explain to you what Motor neutrons are

HTH

I think you, like Mr Vegas have confused motor neurons and sensory neurons (still not a great reference but closer) personally I would have thought the names sufficed as an adequate explanation of their differing functions but I guess not...

as always, happy to help.

So now the promo is unsuitable because it doesn't provide a biologically accurate description of the human central nervous system?

That's quite a high benchmark.