Ryan Lochte Has the 2nd Best Sharks | SharkFest - Ad Analysis
AI Editor notes
Straight from the gut!!
“This is a smart, scrappy idea. Instead of pretending to be bigger than Discovery's Shark Week, they lean into being the underdog. Using Ryan Lochte—forever in Michael Phelps's shadow—is a clever bit of casting. The self-deprecating humor feels authentic and makes the brand seem more approachable than the market leader. It's a textbook challenger move that actually works.”
Quick Summary
By pairing their #2 shark event with the world's most famous #2 swimmer (Ryan Lochte), Nat Geo Wild brilliantly turns its market weakness into a self-aware, humorous strength, creating a memorable challenger brand narrative.
Executive Summary
In the hyper-competitive waters of television event programming, Nat Geo Wild’s “SharkFest” faced a goliath: Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week.” Instead of a futile attempt to out-muscle the market leader, this 2017 promo opted for a much sharper strategy: humor and radical honesty.
The Core Insight: The simple human truth at the heart of this ad is that there's an underdog in all of us. In a culture obsessed with being number one, admitting you’re number two is disarming, relatable, and unexpectedly confident. The brand leveraged this insight by finding the perfect human embodiment of 'second best' in the sports world: Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, perpetually in the shadow of Michael Phelps. This parallel is the engine of the entire spot.
The Execution: The ad follows a classic Setup-Turn-Payoff structure. The setup establishes the parallel: the voiceover dryly introduces Lochte as the 'second-best-known male swimmer' and SharkFest as the 'second-best-known shark event.' The turn occurs as the humor escalates through the deadpan VO relentlessly poking at the theme ('Silver's for suckers'), while Lochte grows increasingly frustrated. His protests ('Hey, I win golds too!') are comically ignored. The brand then explicitly embraces the label: 'But SharkFest embraces second place.' This turn transforms the positioning from a potential negative into a badge of honor. The payoff is twofold: the literal request for Lochte to 'swim with the sharks' provides a final punchline, and the call to action includes the snarky addendum 'same time as the other week,' a direct and witty jab at the competition.
The Debrief: The key lesson is that a brand's perceived weakness can be its greatest creative asset. By refusing to compete on the leader's terms (biggest, most epic), Nat Geo Wild carved out its own space as the clever, self-aware alternative. This challenger mentality, executed with a perfectly cast celebrity, allowed the brand to generate outsized attention and create a distinct identity that was both memorable and effective.
Theme Keywords
Brand Position
The smarter, funnier alternative to the self-important market leader in shark programming.
Brand Archetype
Jester
Creative Game Plan
We'll own our runner-up status by pairing our #2 shark programming event with the world's most famous #2 athlete.
Diagnosis: Issues & Solutions
Primary Issue: Emotional Connection
The Problem:
While the 'second best' joke is smart, it's a bit of a one-trick pony. Once the audience understands the central gag within the first 15 seconds, the ad primarily repeats the same beat without much escalation or surprise, running the risk of feeling slightly stretched.
The Solution:
Introduce a surprising twist in the final third. For example, after the fisherman stops Lochte from leaving, have a shark breach and give Lochte a supportive nod, visually paying off the 'embracing second place' idea in an unexpected way.
Secondary Issue: Strategic Sense
The Problem:
The ad's timing in 2017, just a year after Ryan Lochte's significant public controversy at the Rio Olympics, attached a layer of reputational risk. While this adds to the self-deprecating humor for some, it could have alienated viewers who saw the issue as more serious than the ad's lighthearted tone suggests.
The Solution:
Acknowledge the controversy more directly with a single, winking line. A VO comment like, 'Ryan, a man known for his great decisions,' would have demonstrated an even deeper level of self-awareness, defanging potential criticism by getting ahead of it.