Danny DeVito has been hoisting Jersey Mike’s subs for a couple of seasons now. Turns out that was training.
That’s the premise of “Stacked and Jacked: The Danny DeVito Story,” a biopic-style short film from Chicago independent Highdive that launches “Game Day Mike’s Way,” the platform for Jersey Mike’s second year as an NFL sponsor.
In the film, years of lifting subs loaded with meat, cheese and toppings leave DeVito with one preposterously developed arm — enough, eventually, to make him the best quarterback the league has ever seen. Eli Manning watches from the sideline, visibly unwell about it.
The joke is the product truth, taken too far
Jersey Mike’s subs are heavy. That’s the whole brag. Highdive followed the logic to its least reasonable conclusion and landed on a jacked arm and a Hall of Fame career.
“How do you keep that golden arm in shape?” DeVito gets asked. “It’s easy,” he says. “Lift heavy sub, eat heavy sub.”
No product demo required. The exaggeration does the selling, and DeVito — the brand’s self-appointed number one fan — sells the exaggeration.
Same rivalry, opposite bench
Last year’s “Eli vs. Danny” platform set the terms. Manning signed on as a spokesperson for the NFL sponsorship and DeVito took it as a personal affront, reading the hire as an attempt to steal his job.
This year flips the seating chart. DeVito is on the field. Manning is the one stuck watching, which is a neat trick for a two-time Super Bowl MVP and a rare example of a brand platform that gets better because it has a memory.
A director who makes fake biopics for a living
Eric Appel directed, which is close to typecasting. His faux trailers — the Weird Al one that eventually became a real feature, Field of Dreams 2 — live in exactly this register.
A sports movie where the underdog becomes a star is his sweet spot. Casting a 4-foot-10 actor as the greatest quarterback in NFL history is just the underdog math pushed a little further than usual.
The biggest build Jersey Mike’s has done
Highdive didn’t stop at a film. “Game Day Mike’s Way” runs across TV, OLV, social, display and influencer, plus brand acts and limited edition products — the most integrated campaign the chain has put out.
That scale has a business reason behind it. Jersey Mike’s CEO Charlie Morrison told investors the brand had done close to no digital marketing before this year, and that digital moved from under 1% of total marketing spend to more than 20% in the first half of 2026. Q2 revenue hit $208 million, up 10% year over year.
So a bit about a tiny man with a cannon arm is carrying more weight than it looks like it is. Fitting, given the premise.
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