What a throwback for Masters week.
Folks, the Masters is officially upon us. For golf fans, that’s the most beautiful sentence that could ever be uttered (or typed out). Spring is in the air, and the azaleas are in full bloom at Augusta National Golf Club. The first day of competition of the first major of the year officially has concluded, and by the end of the weekend, one champion golfer will don the coveted Green Jacket.
I love everything about the Masters, and eat up all of the wonderful content around the tournament each and every year. The annual tournament held at Augusta National Golf Club gets even the casual golf fans into the sport for a couple of days. It even inspired Toby Keith’s social media account to dig into the archives to shine a light on an old Ford commercial that pro golfer Phil Mickelson and the “Big Dog Daddy” collaborated on back in the day.
The two legends in their respective professions worked together beautifully in this commercial from 2004. And can I be honest for just one second? They simply don’t make commercials like they used to. Seriously. Commercials used to be good, and informative, and entertaining. If companies really want to reach their audience, they need to study the complete masterclass that is this Mickelson-Keith advertisement.
Toby Keith’s social media account shared the clip, and I’m assuming it was shared in honor of it being both Thursday at the Masters (first round of tournament play) and “Throwback Thursday.” The video pairs Phil and Toby together to help promote the brand new Ford Expedition. Well… it was brand new back in 2004. Now it’s over two decades old, but to give Ford some credit, I’m 95% sure I’ve seen this model of Expedition still out on the road.
And the premise of the advertisement is pretty simple: Phil Mickelson is unpredictable while playing golf. He was in the early 2000’s, and he still is in the present day. So the commercial asked what “Lefty” might do next, and cut to a clip of him sharing the stage with Toby Keith – singing a slightly modified version of Toby’s hit song “Who’s Your Daddy?”
For those that are familiar with golf lingo, Phil Mickelson replaced “Daddy” with “Caddy,” much to the chagrin of the Keith. The two go back and forth about whether it should be “Daddy” or “Caddy,” before the commercial moves on to highlight the exciting power-fold third row of the 2004 Ford Expedition. Toby puts Phil’s golf clubs into the back of the vehicle, which prompts Mickelson to call Keith “Caddy.”
That was the setup for Toby’s wonderfully delivered punchline:
“It’s Daddy to you brother.”
I’d do anything to go back to that age of actually entertaining and effective advertising.
Nowadays I’m skipping any commercial that I can. If all the ads were still like that, or even close to it, I’d be much more intrigued by what companies are trying to sell. Hell, I’m searching “2004 Ford Expedition with power-fold third row” on Carvana right now. I want to ride in style like Phil and Toby did… 21 years ago.
If anything, the commercial gets me in the mood for both golf and the “Big Dog Daddy’s” music. Thankfully, Toby Keith left us with a song that perfectly blends the two together:
“Shitty Golfer”
