Actor's 'Testimonial' For Soccer Fans On Air

Soccer fans have enjoyed a boost with a renowned actor going on TV to give his personal testimonial to their commitment to the sport.
Best known for his hard-bitten role in the 1980s drama Boys From The Black Stuff, Bernard Hill, was hired by SPN to promote its ESPN UK channel ahead of the start of the new Premier League season in mid August.
The new TV advert went on air on August 13th featuring Hill - who also appeared as King Theoden in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy - giving testament to the commitment of football fans to their teams.
Created by ad agency Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam, the 60-second advert included the tagline: "Its great to be here."
It will spearhead ESPN's major marketing push on the UK market, marking the first time in three years that the Disney-owned firm has done so.
The advert will run on ESPN Classic and ESPN America, along with Sky Sports, Sky Sports News, Sky Movies, Discovery and FX. It will also be carried on five ESPN owned websites, including Soccernet and CricInfo.
The ad campaign will be used to promote the new ESPN UK channel, which was launched last week on Sky and Virgin Media in standard definition and high definition, with the SD channel also available on Top Up TV and BT Vision.
The actor's new 'role' follows news that the channel will carry the 46 Premier League and 30 Scottish Premier League games previously owned by recession-hit Setanta, along with coverage from the German Bundasliga, Portuguese Liga, Dutch Eredvisie, Russian League and the remainder of the US MLS season.
Recently, actor Sean Bean delivered the slogan: "Football. We know how you feel about it, because we feel the same" as part of an advertising push recently launched by Sky Sports to promote its coverage of the new football season.
(BMcC/KMcA)