New York Giants' Eli Manning Says It's a 'Great Time to Sign'

Behind the Scenes of The Quarterback's New Toyota Ad Campaign Commercial Spots, Eli Interview and Stills Available at: http://www.greattimetosign.com/elimanning_exclusives

NEW YORK, Sept. 8 -- New York Giants Quarterback Eli Manning heads back to the Toyota dealership for this years' "Great Time to Sign" ad campaign for the Greater New York Toyota Dealers Association. Created by ad agency Saatchi and Saatchi and directed by Simon McQuoid from production company Imperial Woodpecker, the humorous spots are built on a simple premise: How would the sales people react if Eli Manning came in to buy a Toyota?

According to Tim Leake, Creative Director at Saatchi and Saatchi, "Eli was fantastic to work with. Obviously, he's a football player, not an actor. But he gives every single take his all. And you know what? He's actually really funny."

This is the second year Manning has appeared in the ads. Altogether, there are now eleven commercials in the campaign and half the fun is seeing what the next one will be. The same actors, Chance Mullen and Joe Farrell, also return to their roles as salesmen in the new spots. Manning says, "These have been fun because it has been the same guys, Chance and Joe, for the past couple years and they are really fun to work with."

This year, also look for two additional spots featuring new NY Jets Quarterback, Mark Sanchez. Mark was a good sport, playing up the fact that he's a rookie and still relatively unknown. In one commercial, the dealer doesn't even recognize him; because he's so excited Eli Manning was just there. Mark isn't just a rookie on the gridiron; these were his first TV commercials.

The "Great Time to Sign" campaign is designed to leverage Toyota's sponsorship of the NY Giants and NY Jets, plus promote the limited-time incentives available at local Toyota dealers.

At GreatTimeToSign.com, people can view the latest deals, watch the TV commercials online, play a "paper football" game with Eli, or submit their own "victory dance" video.

The new commercials will begin airing during sports programming in the Greater New York area in mid-September.