Press Release - For Immediate Release

Van Allen Plexico's Nissan Heisman House Idea Featured in New Ad Campaign!

AU Wishbone Podcast host & Co-Author of WE BELIEVED Sees Idea Made into Nissan Heisman House Commercial

(September 16, 2021) White Rocket Books, publisher of WE BELIEVED: A LIFETIME OF AUBURN FOOTBALL, VOL. 1, by Van Allen Plexico and John Ringer, is proud to reveal that the new Nissan Heisman House TV commercial featuring Auburn's Bo Jackson and Aubie the Tiger is inspired by an original idea proposed by Plexico in a tweet.

The television ad, "Bo Jackson Celebrates Everything," depicts Auburn University (AU) great and 1985 Heisman Trophy winner Bo Jackson - along with ten-time national mascot champion Aubie - "celebrating everything" by throwing toilet paper into the trees in the Nissan Heisman House's yard.

A 45-second version of the ad, which includes a portion of an interview of Plexico by ESPN personality Christine Williamson, will air during the Ohio at Louisiana game on ESPN on Thursday, Sept. 16 at 8 pm EST. It will air again during the Auburn at Penn State game on ABC on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 7:30 pm EST.

A shorter-form version will air in additional spots over the next three weekends. A short-form cut of ESPN's interview with Plexico will air during College Football Countdown on ESPN2 on Friday, Sept. 17 at 4:30 pm EST. A longer-form version will be posted to social media in the days ahead.

In the spring of 2021, after seeing the tweets on social media, Nissan reached out to Plexico to acquire the rights to the idea in order to produce an actual ad based on it, as part of their 11th season of Nissan Heisman House ads. Their 2021 ads were all inspired by college football fans from across the country.

Says Nissan: "We scoured a decade's worth of Twitter posts referencing 'Heisman House' and selected the most creative and humorous among them to serve as a basis for its latest Nissan Heisman House campaign. The result: 10 storylines that would go on to become spots in the campaign."

Says Plexico: "I was beyond thrilled when Nissan contacted me about the idea for the ad. It always seemed to me to be a natural for their campaigns, given Auburn's own Heisman Trophy history and rich football traditions- including throwing TP into the trees after big wins and important milestones. The ad they produced went beyond my initial suggestions and resulted in a very funny and entertaining spot that I think AU fans and college football fans in general will truly enjoy."

Plexico, a 1990 graduate of Auburn University, has hosted the AU Wishbone Podcast (with co-host and 1991 AU grad John Ringer) since 2012, recording new episodes every Monday, year-round. The podcast mixes humor with a deep appreciation for AU's football history. The duo are also the authors of three books on the history of Auburn Football.

Plexico and Ringer's newest book, WE BELIEVED is a nearly-500-page work examining Auburn's football seasons from 1975 through 1998, game-by-game and (in some cases) play-by-play. It contains dozens of interviews, quotes from the games and from media coverage at that time, and contemporary discussion of the seasons covered.

Now in its seventeenth year, White Rocket Books publishes a variety of works, including non-fiction, science fiction, fantasy and New Pulp—many of which have hit Amazon's Top-5 Best-Sellers in their subject categories.

The AU Wishbone Podcast can be found on all podcast apps and at www.auwishbone.com.

WE BELIEVED is a $19.95, 6x9 format trade paperback from White Rocket Books. 478 pages. ISBN-13: 979-8536996751 (6x9" Trade Paperback)

www.whiterocketbooks.com

www.plexico.net

www.auwishbone.com

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