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New York Times
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How SEC's ‘It Just Means More' became part of college football's lexicon
Wynn Everett was hiking an Atlanta trail nine years ago when a couple passed by. They could have recognized the actress from a long run on HBO's 'The Newsroom.' Or perhaps as a villain on ABC's 'Agent Carter.' Maybe even that appearance on 'Grey's Anatomy.' But no, turns out it was something else. A few steps past Everett, the couple turned and yelled four words: 'It just means more!' Advertisement Everett, who said she laughed at the time, might have realized then she was on the ground floor of something so on the nose — and for some fans, triggering — that it would become embedded in college sports culture. That fall 2016, Everett appeared in the first two commercials of an SEC campaign intended to show the way of life in the league. In the first, Everett narrates what the SEC means — 'heart of a campus, heart of a town, heart of an entire state.' Then the video cuts to Everett under a moss tree. Right before the already established 'SEC, SEC, SEC' chant plays, Everett finishes with the words: 'It is so not a phase. Whatever it is. Here, it just means more.' So not a phase, indeed. Some slogans and ad campaigns are quickly forgotten. This one, in less than a decade, has become a rallying cry, and when things go wrong for an SEC team, something opposing fans gleefully mock. Either way, it has become ubiquitous with the conference. The rest of the country might have caught up to the SEC in football, but the league's unabashed claim carries on. Doug Lesmerises, who has covered Ohio State since 2005, hosts a podcast called 'Kings of the North' exploring college football from a northern point of view. Other conferences might be able to match the SEC on the field, and eventually even in passion, he said. But not the slogan: 'You're never beating those four words.' When Greg Sankey was promoted to SEC commissioner in summer 2015, he zeroed in on the league's image. There was no question this was the top football league, but to Sankey, according to SEC communications director Herb Vincent, the status felt underused. Sankey wanted more. 'He wanted to promote the culture of the conference,' Vincent said. Advertisement The league whittled down proposed campaigns to three, including one from the Richards Group, now TRG. The SEC, like most conferences, ran perfunctory promos including game highlights, snippets of interviews with football coaches and students peering into microscopes. The Big Ten had launched its now-famous 'map' commercial. TRG vowed to do something completely different, suggesting several ideas that were decidedly not just trophy presentations and to 'stand out in a sea of sameness,' said Trent Walters, the point man for the pitch. 'I remember walking out of Greg's office and telling Greg: This group is either going to create a killer campaign for us or they're going to get you fired,' Vincent said. Sankey and company decided to take the risk. During a meeting between the SEC and its new partner, they were spitballing ideas, when the eureka! moment occurred. Sankey mentioned that someone in another conference — appropriately enough — had told them in an offhand way: 'It just means more to you guys.' Walter recalled: 'That was when a light bulb went off in our heads: That's gold. Let's see what we can do with that.' The company worked up potential ads, promos and posters and took them back to the SEC. When 'It just means more' appeared on the screen, the reaction was universal. 'I remember the room collectively going: 'Oh, wow, that's it,'' said Michael Thompson, now the head of the SEC Network, who previously worked at Ole Miss and in marketing. 'Everyone was like, Oh, our work is done here. It was so obvious.' The SEC built other aspects into the campaign. Beloved cities and restaurants. Fans and parents, personal stories. But Everett was the face of it, at least early on. The Georgia native attended Auburn, where she was a theater minor. She was living in Los Angeles when she auditioned for the SEC spot. They were looking at other actors, as well as former coaches and SEC players. During Everett's callback, she appeared on a video call with TRG and the ad director. Advertisement 'Tell us about your SEC experience,' Everett remembers being asked. 'I started to tell them about the people that I had met at Auburn and the years that I had there, and all of a sudden, I just could not help myself, and tears started rolling down my face.' Everett also talked about her Georgia parents, including her father, who never missed a game, and her cousins who attended Alabama and Vanderbilt. When Sankey saw Everett's audition, that clinched it, with Vincent recalling Sankey's words: 'This is what we're looking for.' Sankey unveiled the slogan and the campaign at SEC media days in July 2016. The reaction ranged from a shrug to praise for accuracy, albeit for a range of reasons. That was underlined in the same news conference, where Sankey fielded questions about off-field issues involving SEC players and whether his conference had an image problem. That day, Louisville Courier Journal columnist Gentry Estes wrote: 'There are many slogans you can shrug off as inconsequential, but this isn't one of them. It's too on point. … Saying it in such a way is an acknowledgement of the win-at-all-costs mentality that so many observe and believe about SEC football. It does mean more here.' The SEC expected, even wanted, a strong reaction. 'It's unapologetic,' Thompson said. 'That word stuck out to me from then on, that there is this confidence. It's not arrogance, but it's unapologetic. It's who we are.' Not everyone saw it the same. Katie Nolan, then on FS1, in a segment in December 2016, said, 'The SEC has weird commercials.' Nolan lightheartedly but still pointedly took the SEC to task: 'We get it, you are good, and you think you're better than everybody else, but you're just a group of schools that play sports. There are a bunch of other groups of other schools that do literally the same stuff as you. It doesn't mean more. You're just more mean about it.' Advertisement Spencer Hall on the site Every Day Should Be Saturday later offered a breakdown of Everett's second commercial, which featured her at Rosemary Beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida, among other visuals: 'It's a great Southern Living ad,' Hall wrote. Everett's expression from that beach commercial, when at the end she said, 'It just means more,' became an internet meme. (Courtesy of SEC) And as time went on, more people — fans, media, announcers — latched on to the motto, using it as a taunt when the opportunity arose. Undeterred, the SEC blasted the motto on the Wynfrey Hotel building for SEC media days in 2017. It plastered the four words on signage at the SEC championship, the SEC tournament and various other events. Broadcasts of big games featured the motto alongside the SEC logo. The attention on the slogan, even the jeers, made the SEC realize it had something. 'They think they're razzing us with 'It just means more.' But no, you're using our line!' Walters said. 'You're doing what we were hoping you would do.' A typical example: Navy beat Oklahoma in last year's Armed Forces Bowl, and its social media team posted, 'It just means more at Navy.' it just means more at Navy#FearTheBones | #GoNavy | #RollGoats — Navy Football (@NavyFB) December 27, 2024 The beauty of it, to the SEC, was the emphasis on the passion of the conference, not just winning. So when the SEC lost, it still applied, because it hurt more. Or it meant more to the other team to beat an SEC team. 'When it gets thrown back at us, it's kind of a victory,' Vincent said. Walters, the ad agency point person, comes from a football family: His father was a longtime NFL and college assistant, and his brother Troy followed his father's career path. Trent Walters once visited Nebraska, where his brother was an assistant at the time. He was introduced to another coach as the guy who worked on the SEC's 'It Just Means More' campaign. 'He just had this response that was sorta like: 'Oh, that,'' Walters said with a laugh. ''We admire it, but we also kind of hate them for that.'' The PGA Tour offered the memorable 'These guys are good' from 1997 to 2018. The NBA, a few decades ago, adopted the slogan 'It's Fantastic.' The Pac-12, in its former form, was known as the 'Conference of Champions.' The SEC has stuck with its slogan, as it nears the 10-year mark, longer than most campaigns, Walters said. Advertisement 'When clients feel like they need to move away or try something new, that's when you move away from ideas that could really, really be something,' he said. There's some slight disagreement about whether another slogan was considered. Thompson remembers one brief conversation, the idea quickly swatted away: 'Why would we do that?' Walters, however, does recall hearing some uncertainty about continuing with it in the first couple of years. Now, it's one of the first things associated with the SEC. It helped that the on-field product kept the phrase on people's lips. SEC teams appeared in the national championship game every year from 2016 to 2023, including two all-SEC title games, winning five times. The Big Ten, meanwhile, remained a threat to the SEC's superiority on the field — and struck a TV deal that was bigger than the SEC's. But the SEC had the slogan. To Lesmerises, even amid Buckeye Nation, its meaning goes beyond marketing. 'It's more than just a pithy four-word phrase,' he said. 'And I'm not sure it doesn't help them win football games if you're a football recruit looking to play somewhere that cares the most. If you're a coach looking to work somewhere that has passion and resources.' The phrase reinforces that in the SEC, well, you know. Everett would go on to other work, including appearances on 'The Walking Dead,' 'Modern Family' and 'This Is Us.' But her career recently brought her back to football. 'Chad Powers' is an upcoming Hulu comedy about the South Georgia Catfish, who are seen playing against Georgia, Ole Miss and Tennessee. The Catfish are not officially in the SEC, but it's fairly implied. The show is based on a sketch former Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning did for an ESPN show. The first episode airs Sept. 30. Advertisement 'It's really a love letter to southern football,' said Everett, who was cast as a Catfish booster. 'It's really a love letter to football fans. It's been years since Everett was part of the SEC campaign. But she takes pride in being there for the start. 'I love when I see it come up on the screen and it says, 'It Just Means More,'' she said. 'I love that I was part of it. It's so special, and it's so unique. And I think it stuck because it's authentically real.'
Metro
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Tom Cruise and co-star Hayley Atwell closer than ever in intimate appearance
Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell appeared closer than ever as they hit the red carpet for the US premiere of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Top Gun star Cruise, 62, returns to the franchise as Ethan Hunt, this time hellbent on stopping a terrifying new weapon that threatens all of humanity. Atwell, 43, returns to the franchise as Grace, a master pickpocket whom we first met in 2023's Dead Reckoning. Despite being at odds onscreen, Cruise and Atwell put on an intimate display on the red carpet, pictured leaning their heads against each other. They both appeared calm with their eyes closed, taking in the moment while their castmates smiled alongside them. Cruise and Atwell, who both wore coordinating black outfits for the occasion, were seen laughing heartily, with Atwell's arm resting on Cruise's shoulder. It was previously rumoured that Cruise and Atwell dated before she began a relationship with music producer Ned Wolfgang Kelly. However, Agent Carter star Atwell rubbished the claims and said Cruise is more like an 'uncle' to her. She told The Independent: 'Why are things being assumed or projected onto me about my relationship with my work colleague and boss? 'It's involving people in my actual life, my personal life, who have to be on the receiving end of that. It becomes invasive.' Cruise is currently rumoured to be dating Knives Out star Ana De Armas after the pair were spotted on a string of outings together, including David Beckham's 50th birthday bash. Despite neither of them confirming the rumours, the Blonde actor, 37, recently opened up about Cruise for the first time on Good Morning America. 'And I hear you're working with another big star, he's a stunt master himself, Tom Cruise,' interviewer Michael Strahan began.'On another project that's gonna lead you to do some other crazy stunts?' 'What do you think?', she replied, bursting out laughing, to which he joked: 'You didn't get enough with Ballerina? You're asking for more?' 'It's so much fun,' De Armas said of taking on various risky challenges in the world of action movies. 'We're definitely working on a lot of things, not just one, but a few projects, with (directors) Doug Liman and Christopher McQuarrie' she continued. The actors were first seen on a night out in London in February, an insider told People that they were at dinner with their agents to 'discuss potential collaborations down the line'. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Now we know why Tom Cruise is always at the movies MORE: Tom Cruise reunites with Jerry Maguire co-star 30 years after Oscar-winning film MORE: Mission: Impossible 8 debuts to savage reviews – but sparkles on Rotten Tomatoes
Geek Tyrant
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Hayley Atwell Would Love to Play Peggy Carter in the Upcoming AVENGERS Movies - "There's So Much More That Peggy Can Do" — GeekTyrant
Hayley Atwell's Peggy Carter has been a small, but consistent character in the MCU since the early days. She first appeared in Captain America: The First Avenger , and went on to play the role in her own Marvel One-Shot, as well as Captain America: The Winter Soldier , Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers: Age of Ultron , Ant-Man , her own short-lived series Agent Carter , Avengers: Endgame , where we got to see Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) go back in time to spend his life with her, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , where she was ruthlessly cut in two, and she voiced Carter in the animated series What If…? . So what's next for Peggy Carter? Atwell hopes that she will return in some capacity, as she sees Carter as a majorly underserved character. The actress explained in a recent interview with Den of Geek: "There are so many things that she could do, there's so much more I feel I can bring to a character because I've developed as time's gone on. What's so great about having time behind you and having had a 20-year career so far is the development of skill, and I think there's so much more that Peggy can do. 'She's very much an underserved character. When she says 'I know my value and everyone else's opinion doesn't really matter,' it's because she hasn't been given the platform that she knows she deserves and that she's really capable of doing in the world.' She went on to add: 'And so I just think there is just so much more that she can do, and I think she speaks to a modern time, so to be able to take her to that next level as Captain Carter would be phenomenal. Especially with all my Mission: Impossible training. I am ready, let's go!" Atwell is great in the role, and I think she has a lot of potential if she gets the chance to continue to play her. The next opportunities that make the most sense would be in Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027). Would you like to see Peggy Carter return?
Newsweek
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Newsweek
Fan-Favorite 'Captain America' Star Wants in on 'Avengers: Doomsday'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Entertainment gossip and news from Newsweek's network of contributors Hayley Atwell doesn't think Peggy Carter's gotten enough of a chance on the big screen. That's what she told Den of Geek while talking to them about her appearance in the upcoming "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning". The Marvel star was asked about the possibility of showing up in either "Avengers: Doomsday" and/or "Avengers: Secret Wars", and she wasn't shy about her answer. Read More: Peacemaker Meets the Justice League in Season 2 First Look "I would love that," Atwell said. "There are so many things that she could do, there's so much more I feel I can bring to a character because I've developed as time's gone on. What's so great about having time behind you and having had a 20-year career so far is the development of skill, and I think there's so much more that Peggy can do. She's very much an underserved character." Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell in "Captain America: The First Avenger". Chris Evans and Hayley Atwell in "Captain America: The First Avenger". DISNEY Atwell used a line straight from "Agent Carter" to get her point across, as well as pointing out that her time playing a more action-oriented character in "Mission: Impossible" would serve her well. "When she says 'I know my value and everyone else's opinion doesn't really matter,' it's because she hasn't been given the platform that she knows she deserves and that she's really capable of doing in the world," Atwell explained. "And so I just think there is just so much more that she can do, and I think she speaks to a modern time, so to be able to take her to that next level as Captain Carter would be phenomenal. Especially with all my 'Mission: Impossible' training. I am ready, let's go!" Hayley Atwell made her first appearance as Peggy Carter in 2011's "Captain America: The First Avenger," and she remained a vibrant presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe even beyond her character's off-screen passing from old age in 2016's "Captain America: Civil War." Her cameos were sprinkled throughout the narrative, including in films like "Ant-Man" and the "Avengers" entries. In 2022, she appeared as Captain Carter - a version of her character who gets the super soldier serum instead of Steve Rogers - in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness". She appeared in a recurring role as the same character in the animated series "What If...?" and enjoyed two seasons of her own live-action series "Agent Carter". There's no word yet on whether or not Atwell's wish might be granted and she could show up in either "Doomsday" and/or "Secret Wars", but considering the presumed multiverse nature of the films, an appearance from Captain Carter certainly isn't out of the question. More Comics: 'Peacemaker' Season 2 - Everything We Know So Far Fan-Favorite Star From 'The Bear' Cast in 'Spider-Man 4'
The Independent
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Daredevil: Born Again is Marvel's last chance to save its disastrous streaming run
Titles rarely come more loaded than Daredevil: Born Again. Disney+'s latest series is a reboot and continuation of Daredevil, the well-regarded Marvel show that aired on Netflix between 2015 and 2018. Charlie Cox returns as the blind crime-fighting lawyer Matt Murdock, while Vincent D'Onofrio is Kingpin, a villainous mafioso with a bald head and the dimensions of a mid-range people carrier. Amid a churning sea of superhero content, Daredevil managed to find its footing; it was gritty, modest in its ambitions, and beloved by fans. The title Born Again is both an homage to a beloved 1986 Daredevil comic arc and a nod to the fact that this is a revival series. But there's another metatextual meaning here. The past four years have seen Marvel try and fail to replicate its cinematic dominance in the world of streaming; Daredevil: Born Again is the 15th Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) series to hit Disney+ since 2021. Marvel will be hoping that the series can itself be a rebirth – that the company's misguided forays into the world of streaming can be transformed, phoenix-like, into something capable of flight. If Daredevil, a tried-and-true formula with a built-in fanbase, can't do it, then I'm not sure anything will. In the early days of the MCU – that is to say, between the theatrical release of The Incredible Hulk in 2007 and the launch of Disney's proprietary streaming service in 2022 – the TV arm of the MCU was an entirely different beast. It began on traditional broadcast television: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020), the sci-fi series co-created by Avengers ' Joss Whedon, ran for seven seasons on AMC, while Agent Carter (2015-16), a period spy series focusing on Hayley Atwell's Captain America character, ran for two. When the TV ecosystem began its pivot to streaming, Disney turned to Netflix to licence another run of shows – Daredevil, Jessica Jones (2015-19), Luke Cage (2016-18), Iron Fist (2017–18), The Punisher (2017-19) plus the The Defenders (2017), which brought together all the series leads into one crossover miniseries. These series were nominally set in the same world as the Marvel films – with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter even enlisting including some of the MCU's lesser-known film actors as cast members. But they were also conventionally televisual: more modest than the movies in scope and budget. Absent the mass appeal of the theatrical films, these TV shows attracted more of a niche audience of genre fanatics. Avengers might have been an event, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.? This was just another night of network television. Disney, though, had higher ambitions. When the company decided to launch its own streamer, Disney+, in late 2019, it fixed upon a starkly different approach to Marvel's TV slate. By this point, the MCU had distended beyond its wildest ambitions. It was now more than 20 films deep into its theatrical franchise, and more popular than ever. Just as their movies had monopolised the industry, so too, they thought, would their new streaming series. A whole roster of shows were announced, featuring high-profile actors from the movies, bigger, cinematic budgets and production values. And they were going to be released in formidable quantities. Call it hubris. Call it folly. Call it a simple miscalculation. But – while their initial effort, the inventive and worthwhile WandaVision, proved a hit – the last four years of Marvel's streaming output has been underwhelming to the point of disaster. Series after series has come and gone without lasting impact, save for the attention of comic-book purists: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Loki, Secret Invasion, Ms Marvel, Moon Knight, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and the recent Echo among them. The fact that some of these series cost more than most blockbuster films (She-Hulk a mind-boggling $225m) and recruited some bona fide A-listers (Oscar Isaac in Moon Knight; Samuel L Jackson in Secret Invasion), made no difference. Critical responses largely ranged from damning to indifferent – a vast soundboard of voices all intoning the word 'meh'. And while each fresh venture brings with it a core of diehards insisting that, no, really, this one is worth your time, they're yet to convince the bulk of the TV-viewing public. Where once Marvel's TV shows were sort of like nerdy younger siblings to the core cinematic franchise, or perhaps a shabby but endearing uncle, now the Disney+ relations descend upon gatherings as a swarm of gauche and ill-adjusted cousins, dressed like spivs and poisonous to the vibe. And, what's more, they won't stop procreating. It's worth noting too that Marvel's streaming slump has coincided with a drop-off in interest in its cinematic slate, and industry-wide 'superhero fatigue' – even if the garish phenomenon of Deadpool vs Wolverine last year proved there's still gold somewhere in them thar hills. Which brings us back to Daredevil: Born Again. I don't know if Daredevil: Born Again will live up to expectations, if the pulpy appeal of the Netflix original will have survived the transition to Disney+. There's certainly a chance it could have: Marvel's head of TV Brad Winderbaum has said that Born Again (along with last year's Agatha All Along) represented a conscious pivot towards more thriftily budgeted series – a production model more in line with traditional TV than the blockbuster sprawl of, say, She-Hulk. But even loyal fans will have their doubts: there's every chance that Born Again will fall into the same pit of forgotten content that's claimed the rest of Marvel's streaming efforts. Crucially, though, they're going to tune in and find out. If the MCU is striving to be born again, to wash away its sins, there may never be a better chance. Can I get a 'hallelujah'?
