The Lipton Plunge: DC Shoes Ads Feature Unlikely Pairings

BMXer Dave Mirra (r) With James Lipton In New DC Shoes Spot

A series of humorous TV commercials for Quiksilver’s DC Shoes brand launched this week and pairs James Lipton, host of Bravo’s “Inside the Actors Studio,” with action sports athletes such as skateboarders Rob Dyrdek and Danny Way, and motocross racer Travis Pastrana, according to Stuart Elliott of the N.Y. TIMES. The 18 ads, via California-based 72 & Sunny, also feature surfer Bruce Irons, BMX rider Dave Mirra and snowboarder Travis Rice. The campaign is “the third of three with a $1[M] budget that DC is running this summer.” The ads are appearing on ESPN, ESPN2, MTV, MTV2 and dcshoes.com. DC Shoes VP/Marketing Mark Woolsey: “I challenged our agency: ‘We’ve pretty much got the dream team in action sports, and kids have seen footage of them but have never been exposed to their personalities. ... Even though [Lipton’s] program is geared more for adults, he has become a pop culture icon.” Lipton noted that after he was told by his reps at ICM that DC Shoes was interested in him, he asked, “What is that?” But Lipton said the idea fits with efforts by him and Bravo to “broaden the demographic range” of his show (N.Y. TIMES, 7/27).