TANGIER ISLAND — Tangier residents will star in a new ESPN3 commercial being filmed on the island this week.The broadband Internet network delivers live sports programming — including NCAA football, NCAA men’s and women’s basketball, NASCAR, NBA basketball and others — via the Internet, even in remote locations like this tiny island in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay.
That accessibility is the theme of the ad campaign, according to Dr. Neil S. Kaye, president of the Tangier History Museum, who was involved in the effort to attract ESPN to the island.
“The gist of the whole commercial is that Tangier Island is the biggest sports place in America per capita,” said Town Manager Renee Tyler. The 2000 Census reported its population at 605 people.
Production crew members began arriving on the island Saturday and on Monday were beginning to interview residents with a view to casting some in the commercial. The film crew will begin shooting Wednesday.
“It’s complete mayhem and craziness,” said Kaye.
Crew members involved in filming the commercial have rented virtually all available rooms in the island’s bed-and-breakfast inns, as well as some rooms in private homes, Tyler said.
“They’ve booked every room, every golf cart, everything,” Kaye said, adding the publicity that will come to the island from the commercial in the long term will be invaluable to the island’s tourism industry.
Kaye credited the Eastern Shore of Virginia Tourism Commission and its director Donna Bozza with working to attract to the island Richmond’s Martin Agency, the advertising agency responsible for the ESPN3 commercial.
The Tourism Commission was approached in June by the Martin Agency after the Virginia Film office connected the two, Bozza said.
“We kept our fingers crossed that they would go for the ad campaign based on the authenticity of our wonderful Tangier and are so thrilled they did,” Bozza said, adding, “The promotional value of ESPN’s spotlight will be immense for the island and the entire Eastern Shore tourism industry for years to come.”
Bozza is on the island this week assisting with the production.
The Tourism Commission also is working on a behind-the-scenes video of the making of the ESPN commercial, which it will use in future marketing efforts, Bozza said.
“The Eastern Shore brand could easily extend to “ ‘The Eastern Shore of Virginia — You’ll love Our Sports Nature,’ ” she said.
ESPN sponsored an ice cream social Monday evening at Tangier Combined School for islanders to meet the production crew and hear more about plans for the commercial’s filming, which is expected to wrap up on Friday.
