Marketplace Roundup

Watch Sharpie's New Spot Featuring David Beckham

In Chicago, Lewis Lazare reviews the latest Sharpie TV ad featuring Galaxy MF David Beckham via Brand Buzz, N.Y., called "Obsession." Lazare gives it a grade of "C+," as it "doesn't pack much of a punch as it goes about showing Beckham graciously agreeing to autograph all manner of materials for a variety of fans." While signing each item, he "stares harder and harder at the Sharpie pen he's given to use each time." Beckham "is not a particularly great actor, so it's hard to read from his expression exactly what he is thinking as he looks at the pen." That is "until we get to one of the commercial's final images in which Beckham is seen pulling with all his might to dislodge a Sharpie from the hands of a (very) young girl" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/9).

ISLAND IN THE SUN: In Phoenix, Ryan Randazzo writes Gatorade "will tap West Valley sunshine -- with the largest rooftop solar array in the state -- to power its distribution facility" in Tolleson, Arizona. Gatorade will "install a 500-kilowatt system at the facility that will supply 40[%] of its annual energy needs." Arizona-based utility company Salt River Project will "provide $1.2[M] as an incentive for the project" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/9).

NOTES: Funai Electric Company will be the presenting sponsor of the Red Sox' new Japanese & American Youth Baseball Exchange Program. The program will allow youth from Japan and the U.S. to visit one another's homelands and learn lessons of life and culture through baseball (Red Sox)....Tampa-based Dex Imaging has signed a multi-year marketing partnership as a pillar partner of Sunshine Sports & Entertainment. The company also will be the official imaging solutions provider of the NHL Panthers and BankAtlantic Center (SSE).