July 1, 2012. Spike Lee (L) and host Samuel L. Jackson perform at the 2012 BET Awards in Los Angeles. (Reuters)
A new Capital One commercial features the city of Annapolis — along with former basketball star Charles Barkley, actor Samuel L. Jackson and director Spike Lee.
The commercial shows the trio road-tripping to the NCAA basketball final four.
But instead of arriving in Indianapolis, Indiana, where the games will take place, Barkley drives them to Annapolis, 600 miles east. A sign is shown welcoming the group to Maryland's capital city.
"Wake up, fellas. We're finally here," Barkley says. "In the Annapolis. Now we've just got to find the stadium."
Jackson and Lee go on to explain to Barkley they're supposed to be in Indianapolis, not "in the Annapolis."
"Uh oh," Barkley says.
Connie Del Signore, president and CEO of the Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Convention and Visitors Bureau, called the commercial hilarious.
The confusion between Annapolis and Indianapolis, a city of more than 800,000 people, isn't new, she said.
When Del Signore took the position with the convention and visitors bureau, she said some of her colleagues in the industry congratulated her on the new job in Indianapolis.
"I used this with the CVB team to say 'Look, we need to brand ourselves,'" she said. "That has been our main objective."
With the amount of advertising and branding the bureau has done over the past 12 years, coupled with the times Del Signore has heard the confusion herself, she said the bureau will take "some credit for planting the seed" for the commercial.
"National placement," she said. "Do you know how much CVBs would pay for this exposure?"
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