Shields Health Blog

6 Insider Facts about Shields MRI’s Infamous TV Commercial

Written by Christian Gay | Jan 31, 2019 9:08:56 PM

With the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl yet again, we can't help but think back fondly to our TV commercial that aired during the big game and got updated to include the team's 5th championship ring. Below are some interesting factoids from the set of perhaps our greatest marketing campaign: 

  1. Yes, we filmed the "5th ring" revised ending months BEFORE the Patriots won the big game. We were hoping for the win, and like to think that filming the spot in September just may have brought our Pats a bit of good luck.
  2. This television advertisement, titled “No Jewelry,” was directed by Bobby Farrelly of the Rhode Island filmmaking duo the Farrelly Brothers (Dumb & Dumber, Something About Mary).



  3. Before agreeing to do the spots, Tom had some very specific requests: he asked to review Shields Health Care Group’s philanthropic work, and he wanted to see the script. According to Carmel Shields, Shields’ Executive Vice President, once Tom saw the script, he was in! You can see Shields’ interview about the experience on Chronicle here. 

  1. The teen actor who played a patient in the waiting area has a local celebrity connection: he is Oscar Wahlberg, a member of the illustrious, Boston-based Wahlberg family!

  2. The Shields logo is prominently featured throughout the spot, and VERY strategically positioned for the “Roger that!” shot -- we had a feeling that might get a lot of play on TV. Of course, we had no idea just how VIRAL our ad would become – it put the Shields name in households around the world!
  1. The commercial was filmed in a laboratory building that was staged to look like the waiting room of one of our MRI centers. While it would have been great to feature one of Shields’ 30+ centers, we treat patients at all hours of the day and we did not want to disrupt their care during the shoot. Everything on set, from the MRI warning signs, to the set of lockers built especially for the shoot, were designed to recreate the Shields experience. One locker had to be specially built, to allow the camera to shoot through it!

You can read more about the commercial here:

https://shields.com/globebrady/

https://www.wcvb.com/article/tom-brady-pitchman-extraordinaire/8681432

https://www.wbur.org/news/2017/02/06/tom-brady-roger-that-commercial

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2017/02/06/tom-brady-roger-that-shields-mri-super-bowl-commercial-ad-update/

https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2017/02/06/tom-brady-commercial-ring/