Former Nike Worldwide Ad Dir Joe McCarthy, who is
serving as a consultant to Leo Burnett, played a "key role"
in the agency's recent landing of the $15-$20M Fila USA
account, according to Scott Hume of ADWEEK. McCarthy, who
was invited to join Burnett full-time but declined for
family reasons, said that his initial impression of Fila's
"brand positioning was that it was superficial, trying to be
cool and not true to itself." McCarthy: "You can't just try
to be like Nike. Reebok owns that positioning." In
pitching the account, McCarthy told Fila it needed "to go
back to what it was and be true to that. There's a European
sensibility to Fila that's an ownable positioning." Fila
Senior VP/Advertising & Sports Marketing Howe Burch said
that Burnett's pitch, which included TV spots featuring an
announcer speaking in "slightly broken" English along with
print work that featured a "mix of both English and Italian
words," was able to express the "Italian heritage of the
brand without banging people over the head with it."
McCarthy will continue to consult on Burnett's first task
for Fila, which will be to create a campaign for the
company's new Grant Hill 5 shoe line (ADWEEK, 7/13 issue).
