Brand Ng

Shouting out for "free" stuff within an Old Spice ad banner

Here's something new: Old Spice is activating its NFL sponsorship by asking users to yell into their computer microphones within an ad banner.  It's coupled with the incredibly offbeat (and fairly awesome) Ray Lewis ad that's making the rounds.

The gift for all of your yelling: a trial month of ESPN.com's Insider.  More precisely, ESPN and P&G both get a qualified e-mail address; you get a somewhat suspect "free" month of ESPN Insider and funny looks from your dorm or office mates, as you advertise on behalf of at least three corporate titans.

Still, it's fairly impressive that those involved were able to pull this promotion off.  I also like that it's focused: the media placement and the "gift" skews male, and the willingness to shout into a computer microphone probably skews younger.  This helps reach younger male buyers, while Mustafa continues to bask in the afterglow of Old Spice's women-targeted campaign.

Unfortunately, I'm no longer seeing the ad on espn.com, but I've included a number of screenshots below (click on any image to enlarge).

 

 

IMG: New "Devotion" Ad Campaign

 

Click on any ad to enlarge

Since we only buy media in sports trade publications, I thought I'd share a few ads from the new IMG ad campaign.  To ensure that we are eating our own dogfood, these are a product of ICON Engineering, a process that we created. We use ICON Engineering chiefly to manage celebrity and event brands. 

The copy of the anthem ad reads:

IS DEVOTION FOUND ON THE FIELD?
OR IN THE STANDS?

Devotion is everywhere. It sweats on the court and poses on the runway. But it also fills the living room and crowds a bar. It’s stitched onto designer labels and lines lucky baseball hats. It’s in the eyes of the one who was there when it happened — and the one who stayed up late to see it again on the highlight reel.

 

Whether it’s sports and entertainment programming, major fashion and sporting events, or top athletes, models and celebrities, IMG has been harnessing devotion in all its forms, in every corner of the globe, for nearly 50 years.

 

From sports to fashion to entertainment, build your brand with IMG—the world leader in creating and capturing consumer devotion.

 

I think these are particularly effective ways to answer a cumbersome B2B brief, for a complex company with complex products. My team for these ads include Jeff Feng, Chris Sweet, Sera Onishi, Scott Corbus, Christie Kim, Ted Vergakis, and others.

You can also download a small collection of these IMG Devotion ads in a PDF.

Sony Bravia ads turn sites into active 3D playgrounds

 

It's turned into 3D week at Brand Ng.  Today only: view some innovative Sony Bravia page-takeover ads on Wednesday, July 14th, at C|Net and other sites.  The ads were developed by interactive shop SilkTricky/Aarra.  Today's the last published day of the media buy, so catch it while you can.

Look for the Sony ad on the C|Net homepage, or refresh until you see it.  If you rollover the ad, you'll see all of the regular homepage content slurped into a (mostly) working 3D environment.  It's akin to a Babel Fish translation of the page.

I like this idea, even though their brief is showing (on the Bravia screen: "Everything's better in 3D").  

I will say that I prefer C|Net in 2D :)

Look for this ad and roll over it to get CNet in 3D

Apparently, the ad is also at Sports Illustrated and Wired, though I have had trouble getting either to serve me this Bravia ad.

Phoenix Suns to wear "Los Suns" jerseys during playoff game as a political statement

 
     

The Phoenix Suns will be donning their "Los Suns" jerseys tonight (Cinco de Mayo) to protest the new Arizona immigration law.

Good for them.  The new law seems egregiously intrusive, giving law enforcement "broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country illegally."

The jerseys are a pretty powerful statement, but I wonder if this is going to usher in greater prominence of political or cause-related messaging on uniforms and in the stands.  

Yes, the Bucks have had Herb Kohl for years--and my sense is that they have generally been apolitical--but things could get unpredictable with owners like Mark Cuban on the scene. 

I can just picture it now: Mikhail Prokhorov, perhaps trying to stave off a light sweet crude import tax, gets his Brooklyn Nets to wear jerseys that read "Vote Nyet!"

 

UPDATE 5/6: Amusing comments from Jay Leno's monologue last night: "To protest Arizona's new immigration law, the Phoenix Suns are all wearing jerseys that read "Los Suns." Thankfully, they were able to get the jerseys made quickly using an illegal sweat shop, but they were able to turn them out. Boy, talk about making a point. The Phoenix Suns are wearing jerseys written in Spanish, made in China, modeled after their best player, Canadian Steve Nash. There you go, that is America! That is America!"

IMG ICON Engineering for Ovechkin in the Washington Post & New York Times Magazine

One of my favorite NHL goals of all time

ICON Engineering was featured in the Sunday Washington Post and the New York Times magazine this weekend, in articles about NHL Star, Alexander Ovechkin.

ICON Engineering is IMG's proprietary methodology to gain insight on how two or more brands might interact with each other. We developed and applied it to dozens of properties over the last few years.

It has been especially useful for talent and celebrity brands, for which, in my view, there is no equal.

Read more at the NYTimes.com and WashingtonPost.com:

Ovechkin, the Mad Russian (Charles McGrath, New York Times Magazine)

Ovechkin Won't Change his Need for Speed (Dan Steinberg, Washington Post)