gotchanewsdaily.com 
CNN
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The United States Secret Service has tapped blockbuster movie director Michael Bay to create a recruiting advertisement that is expected to be unveiled in the stadium on Super Bowl Sunday, according to multiple NFL and Secret Service sources.
The ad cost an estimated $2 million for the Secret Service to produce, according to two sources familiar with the project — a hefty price tag that comes amid massive budget cuts and layoffs at other government agencies.
One source told CNN the estimated $2 million budget is about double what was spent on previous Secret Service recruiting ads.
The ad is expected to air during the pregame show on a jumbotron inside New Orleans’ Superdome stadium, according to a source close to the NFL. The ad time is being donated, so the Secret Service will not have to pay an additional fee. Ad buys during Super Bowl Sunday typically cost millions of dollars, with a 30-second ad airing on television costing up to $8 million this year.
The ad’s purpose of recruitment comes at a crucial time, as the Secret Service has been wracked with low morale, burnout, staffing and retention issues. The thrust of the ad showcases the Secret Service’s role in protecting the nation’s leaders and points out the very game the audience is attending is secured by the agency, according to sources familiar with the ad.
Through a spokesperson, Secret Service Director Sean Curran told CNN that he “empowered the team to identify a novel and expedient approach that leveraged one of the most recognizable Directors to produce a representation of the men and women behind the Secret Service within nine days while ensuring compliance with requisite rules.”
“As Director, my focus will always be to lean forward to meet the needs of our workforce,” Curran said through the spokesperson.
News of the ad comes days after Bay — the Hollywood action director behind the “Transformers” movies and “Pearl Harbor” — was seen in White House pool footage shaking hands with Donald Trump as the president boarded Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews last week. Sources familiar with the project say Bay was shooting the recruiting ad on-site.
According to sources familiar with the ad, it includes images of Secret Service agents as well as former presidents, including possible historic footage of John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. There is also expected to be an image of Trump from the day of last year’s assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania. However, it is not clear what will make the final edit.
“I came up with the concept for the PSA that America was founded on the idea of freedom,” Bay told CNN in a statement. “Throughout our short but powerful history as Americans, we have always stepped forward in time of need. This was a spot to honor the true silent heroes who protect the leaders of our democracy.”
Trump will be at the game, and possibly on site when the ad airs in the stadium. Earlier this week, a White House official told CNN the president is expected to attend the game, which would make him the first sitting US president to attend a Super Bowl.
The Secret Service ad airing on Super Bowl Sunday comes after days of back-and-forth negotiations between the agency, Bay and the NFL.
CNN first learned last week that the ad would air on a jumbotron inside the stadium during the game. But by Friday afternoon — just two days before the game — a source close to the league told CNN the ad would not be airing. The source said the Secret Service submitted its request too late and programming on the jumbotron had already been locked.
Less than 24 hours later, CNN learned the NFL had found space to air the ad during the pregame. The NFL declined to comment.
There were also conversations regarding a possible televised commercial on Fox, two sources said, adding that the ad space would have been donated to the Secret Service.
The Secret Service will own the ad for five years and plans to use it on social media to drive future recruitment for years to come.
The spot came together in less than two weeks — a rapid timeline for a busy Hollywood hitter like Bay and typically slow-moving government agencies — indicating the importance of the ad to the Secret Service.
CNN has filed Freedom of Information Act records requests to determine the actual cost and budget for the ad campaign.
The security footprint at the game will be both massive and tight. Multiple high-profile leaders beyond Trump will be there, and the city of New Orleans is still reeling from the New Year’s terrorist attack that killed 14 people.
