National commercial for PrizePicks fantasy sports operator wraps filming in Spokane

A commercial set to be nationally broadcast during the upcoming NFL season wrapped filming Monday in Spokane’s Peaceful Valley Park.

The humorous commercial set just under the Maple Street Bridge near downtown aims to highlight the rebranding of PrizePicks, a leading daily fantasy sports operator.

“It just fit the vibe of the commercial. It’s hip, you’ve got the urban setting with the park and the basketball court. It’s a place you see people hanging out and having fun,” said Chris Marcus, director and CEO of Colormatics, the local company that produced it. “It’s a fairly nondescript area. You feel like you could be in New York or somewhere on the East Coast. It just definitely feels very unique.”

Anthony Jamal Bean, a comedian known professionally as Chico Bean who currently has a Netflix special, is featured in the commercial alongside YouTuber and social media influencer Marco Summers, aka Funny Marco. Jared Quay Campbell, a standup comedian, actor and former Arizona Cardinals safety, stars in the commercial as a spokesman for PrizePicks.

The comedians shot scenes with puppies, chips and guacamole, and more.

“The main takeaway is that it’s a fun app that you can win big on,” Marcus said.

After the final version of the script was approved, Marcus and Colormatics executive producer Aaron Breeden had six days to find the location and get all the crew and props necessary to pull off a national commercial production for PrizePicks, Marcus said.

Fortunately for PrizePicks, Breeden and Marcus have worked on a number of feature films, Breeden said. Transitioning from the cinematic world, the goal is to apply their creative skills to a 30- to 60-second setting.

“We had a mutual friend who connected us with PrizePicks,” Marcus said. “Their main contractor had seen a lot of our stuff that we did, and they asked us to take part in their upcoming campaign and rebrand.”

Colormatics combines elements of an advertising agency with the skills of a production company, Marcus said. Since its startup in 2014, the company has grown to six locations nationwide, with Spokane being its headquarters.

“One of the reasons why we chose Spokane is because it is way more cost-effective, and we can get stuff done fast,” Marcus said. “We shoot in L.A. or New York or Miami and it’s just more money, more time and you get a lot more problems.”

Filming commercials for various other local and national brands, Colormatics is no stranger to the sports media and advertising world. After crypto app FTX announced its partnership with Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry in late 2021, Colormatics worked with Curry for just six hours to produce a national commercial for the crypto app.

NBA analyst and Hall of Fame player Shaquille O’Neal has also been featured in a Colormatics-made commercial as an FTX sponsor.

Besides other celebrities, athletes, leagues and organizations like former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, tennis star Naomi Osaka, the MLB, Seattle Seahawks and Miami Heat, Colormatics also works with local businesses such as Providence Cancer Center, Coeur D’Alene Resort, STCU, and Gonzaga and Whitworth Universities.

“We definitely try to make it a collaboration,” Marcus said of the creativity distribution. “We don’t like having people dictate us. Since they know the brand, we’ll come up with an idea and we’ll pitch it to them. For this script, we took scenes from all three scripts and worked together to figure out what worked well together.”

Colormatics’ decision came down to three location options: on the streets, in a house or in a park.

“We decided to go with the park,” Breeden said. “This is a tighter budget, so we wanted to get good production value. We found this and everyone loved the location.”

PrizePicks sent 12 ambassadors into Spokane from across the country to help create the commercial.

With Breeden and Marcus are eight local crew members and several freelance employees from Colormatics.

“Some of the budgets here in town, like our commercials, are bigger than a couple of feature film budgets. So, we can do some really cool stuff, you know? We still know how to be scrappy and make that money work,” Marcus said.

The commercial will be available on YouTube, the PrizePicks website and the Colormatics website. Breeden and Marcus say they expect to see it in commercials during football games in the upcoming weeks.