The 25 Greatest Athlete Ad Campaigns of All Time

Lil' Penny

Back when Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway was good (actually, he was awesome), he had a famous sidekick named Lil' Penny to help promote his brand. Voiced by Chris Rock, this little trash-talker helped sell many pairs of Air Pennies.

Bo Jackson - "Bo Knows"

Perhaps the greatest natural athlete of all time, Bo Jackson was the first man in the modern era to play professional baseball and football in the same year. It only made sense to showcase his all-encompassing skills in a series of commericals for his cross-training shoes. The advertising folks at Nike knew that "Bo Knows" would be a hit.

Tiger's Golf Tricks

When you think of Nike Golf, does anyone else really come to mind except for Tiger Woods? Probably not, but just to make sure it would always stay that way, Tiger played the role of show-off in a couple of commercials that whipped the world into a frenzy, and resulted in golfers everywhere trying to mimic him.

Danica Patrick for Go Daddy

Finally, score one for the girls! Racecar driver Danica Patrick became a household name when she become a spokeswoman for the Internet domain name website and starred in a series of Super Bowl commercials. Much like her driving career, these ads are well-known for being a major tease.

Michael Phelps for Subway

OK, so the Michael Phelps Subway ads were never great in the sense that they were ever funny, but if you didn't know that Michael Phelps enjoyed eating delicious Subway subs on his way to becoming the greatest Olympian of all time, then you must have been living under a rock. I still think of him every time I eat fresh (which typically means a footlong meatbal sub followed by absolutely no exercise).

LeBron James in "The LeBrons"

Remember when everyone actually liked LeBron James? It's kind of hard to picture now, but during that time James appeared in a hilarious series of commercials as different members of his family, "The LeBrons."

Doug Flutie for Flutie Flakes

In 1998, Doug Flutie's career had been revitalized with the Buffalo Bills, and he took advantage of that by launching his own brand of cereal. He used the product to raise awareness for autism and a large portion of sales were donated to help find a cure. Although his flakes may not be as famous as his Hail Mary touchdown pass with Boston College, it still goes down as a stellar ad campaign.

Donovan McNabb and His Mom for Campbell's Chunky Soup

Many NFL players have appeared in commercials for Chunky Soup (even Howie Long), but the campaign with Donovan and his mother delivering hot soups around Philly was the most successful.

Michael Jordan and Larry Bird - "The Showdown"

In this series of ads for McDonald's, Jordan and Bird compete in a friendly H.O.R.S.E-like game to see who gets to eat the Big Mac that Mike just bought. Guess what, both of them really want that delicious food from McDonald's! Thus, "The Showdown" continues on and on...to epic proportions.

(Side note: Eventually Charles Barkley made a cameo in this campaign, but they wouldn't even let him play. But don't worry, Barkley did have his advertising moment in the sun later in 1993 with his "I am not a role model" commercial.)

Maria Sharapova - "I Feel Pretty"

Girl power! So this commercial featuring Maria Sharapova that aired in 2006 wasn't necessarily part of a large TV campaign, but it did also appear in many print ads. It was critically-acclaimed as an advertising masterpiece for the Nike Women brand of sportswear, and we can see why.

Troy Polamalu for Head & Shoulders

The most famous hair in football had to get some extra attention sooner or later, and Head & Shoulders jumped on the opportunity in a series of hilarious commercials featuring the Pro Bowl safety.

Kordell Stewart - "Paper Route"

Kordell Stewart, at one point, seemed to be on the path of legendary greatness. His career kind of fizzled out, but his Nike commercials were still excellent.  His "Paper Route" ad was the most well-known.

Grant Hill for Sprite

When Grant Hill first entered the NBA and before he was hampered by injuries, he was a downright stud. He also drank Sprite, so if you drank Sprite too you might think you could be just like Grant Hill...but alas, image is nothing. Thirst is everything. Duh. Oh, and he was also in another Sprite commercial with Tim Duncan.

Andre Agassi - "Image is Everything"

What a rebel! In this campaign for Canon's Rebel cameras in 1990, tennis bad boy Andre Agassi basically tells you the opposite of what you just heard in the Grant Hill Sprite commercial. Advertising is funny like that.

Peyton Manning - "Priceless"

The Broncos quarterback is well on his way to the NFL Hall of Fame, and after this ad campaign for MasterCard, he surely entered the commercial hall of fame. And as far as chanting goes, "Cut that meat!" is Grade A.

Kyrie Irving - "Uncle Drew"

There's something awesome about a young guy dressing up as an old guy and then still doing cool, young guy things. So when Pepsi MAX and Kyrie Irving teamed up to present Uncle Drew, a viral hit was imminent, making this the most modern ad campaign on the list.

Kia Optima + Blake Griffin

The second Blake Griffin jumped over a Kia Optima at the 2011 NBA Dunk Contest, an ad campaign was born. It has been going strong ever since, too, as Griffin's deadpan delivery in the spots is almost as entertaining as his dunks. Almost.

Larry Johnson - "Grandmama"

Very rarely does an ad campaign lead to a nickname for the athlete featured in it, but such is the case for Larry Johnson, who was commonly referred to as Grandmama for the rest of his career after this series of commercials for Converse. Who knew a basketball-crazy old lady who lived in a shoe would be so popular?

Brett Favre is "Real Comfortable" in Wrangler

Once Wrangler realized that they couldn't rely on the "Wrangler Butts Drive Me Nuts" slogan forever, they went out and got everyone's favorite (at the time) hard-working quarterback to promote their jeans. Favre appeared in several spots in his "Real.Comfortable.Jeans." Eventually he had a few issues that tarnished his image a bit, so Dale Earnhardt, Jr. took over for a little while. Now it seems they are both back to promoting Wrangler, though, and all is right with the world.

Kevin Garnett, Tim Hardaway, Terry Porter and More - "Fun Police"

KG has always been a seriously intense competitor who will do whatever it takes to win, but back in his Minnesota Timberwolves days he was also serious about having fun. So much so, that he and some fellow NBA stars would head out and crack down on anyone not having fun playing basketball. The result was a very fun ad campaign.

Brian Wilson for 2K Sports

Baseball players don't get a ton of national ad campaign love, perhaps because they play so many games, but Brian Wilson still managed to sneak in here. Along with a few spots for 2K Sports, the weird dude with the incredible beard also promoted Taco Bell like only he knows how.

Aaron Rodgers - "Discount Double Check"

Once Aaron Rodgers became a Super Bowl champion, it was inevitable that we would soon be seeing him in more commercials -- but I'm not sure any of us expected to see him every commercial break. Either way, State Farm capitalized on Rodgers' already popular touchdown celebration by featuring him in a series of humorous ads where customers use it to express that they got the best deal, and the campaign shows no signs of slowing down.

Dan & Dave for Reebok

In 1992, Reebok must have thought they had struck gold. Two American decathletes, Dan O'Brien and Dave Johnson, were endorsing them and were expected to compete for the title of "world's greatest athlete" at the Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Ads began airing during the Super Bowl and were building up steam, but then there was one minor problem: Dan failed to qualify for the Olymics. Reebok had to modify their campaign and abandoned it completely when Dave only managed to take home the bronze medal. Still, both Dan and Dave, relative unknowns before 1992, became household names.