Fila will break next month "the first TV work from its
new agency team" of Merkley Newman Harty, N.Y. and BDDP,
Paris, according to Terry Lefton of BRANDWEEK. The "global"
TV and print campaign will highlight "some top endorsers"
and include Fila's first creative to feature Cubs RF Sammy
Sosa, who was signed last year "to anchor a cross-training
initiative." Sosa and U.S. soccer player Carla Overbeck
"attended a shoot" in AZ last week. Pistons F Grant Hill
and G Jerry Stackhouse "have also been cast along with"
tennis players Jennifer Capriati and Mark Philippoussis.
Fila VP/Marketing Communications Mark Westerman, on the
campaign: "Our positioning has not changed drastically.
We're still an authentic sports brand, but we want to show
that sports isn't war, that it has a humanistic side." The
ad with Hill and Stackhouse "cuts from them playing
basketball to one playing the piano as the other sings."
The campaign will run four to six weeks on ESPN, MTV and
"other teen favorites." Fila told agencies that it would
spend $20M domestically this year and $60-70M globally, and
Westerman told Lefton that the company "would increase U.S.
spending this year 50%, after a drastic cutback in '99"
(BRANDWEEK, 2/28 issue). In Detroit, Helene St. James
reported that Hill and Stackhouse "spent eight hours
Thursday afternoon shooting" their Fila ad and added, "The
theme is that there's more to life than rival Nike's 'Just
Do It' philosophy" (DETROIT FREE PRESS, 2/26).
