Lakers C Shaquille O'Neal is featured in a new ad
campaign for MD-based Web and application hosting service
provider Digex that breaks today. The ads, via OH-based The
Benchmark Group, juxtapose O'Neal wearing a Digex jersey
against the image of youngsters playing basketball, with the
copy, "Pick the Dominant Force. Digex." A full-page ad runs
today in the Wall Street Journal, and there is an outdoor
effort in the S.F. area, as well as a presence at a
technology convention in Orlando. Digex will roll out in
the next few weeks a campaign in technology trade and
business publications, including Internet Week, InfoWorld,
ComputerWorld, Business Week, Forbes and Fortune.
Additionally, the outdoor program will be expanded to N.Y.
and Silicon Valley (Digex). The Wall Street Journal ad
features the Dunk.net logo next to O'Neal's photo (5/23).
BARGAIN SHAQ: In L.A., Larry Stewart wrote that a pair
of Chromz basketball shoes, which O'Neal wears in games,
sells for $84 on Dunk.net, while basketball shorts are $30,
and a jersey is $18. Stewart added that the "price of some
merchandise," including the Chromz shoes, is "less than what
you'd pay in many" sporting goods stores. Dunk.net "claims"
that by the end of the year, users will be able to order a
"wide variety of sports products, many of them made to
order, customized to their liking" (L.A. TIMES, 5/22).
RAPPING IT UP? O'Neal told TNT, "I've sort of retired
from the music industry, because for me, doing albums wasn't
about selling albums or making money -- it's just about me
hanging out with my favorite emcees" ("TNT," 5/22).
