MADISON, Wis. (WSAU) — Wisconsin’s head men’s basketball coach is now the state’s assistant tourism coach, too.
The Wisconsin Department of Tourism released a new television commercial promoting the state’s attractions featuring Badger’s Coach Bo Ryan.
Tourism Secretary Stephanie Klett says the new television ad was produced by the same famous Wisconsinites that produced the Kareem Abdul Jabbar “Airplane” ads, David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams.
Klett says the coach is a very good actor, and the Zucker brothers say he has “a natural sense of theatrics” and isn’t afraid to express emotion on camera. “You will see a very stressed-out coach Ryan on the court, be taken away magically to a land where things are fun, and that’s vacationing in Wisconsin.”
Klett says you will see Bo Ryan like you’ve never seen him before. “You’ll see him ziplining, go carting, and my favorite thing, being on top of the Tommy Bartlett water ski pyramid, so it’s a really unique ad and it’s just going viral like crazy.”
The commercial will primarily be seen in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. It was released Thursday and has already gone viral on social media. Klett says as of Thursday afternoon, it was seen about 1,400 times per hour online and growing.
Coach Ryan says he’s proud to live in Wisconsin and is happy to promote Wisconsin tourism. Ryan didn’t want to be paid for the acting gig. Klett says instead of paying the coach, they made a $10,000 contribution to Coaches vs. Cancer, which Ryan has worked with to raise funds for the American Cancer Society.
Klett says the new ad campaign will also involve radio, billboards, social media, and print ads. There is also an online “Travel Wisconsin Off-Court Matchup” at their website, TravelWisconsin.com.
