VF Corp.'s Wrangler brand yesterday announced that it has signed Saints QB Drew Brees as its latest celebrity endorser, and the former NFL MVP will be featured in upcoming marketing campaigns scheduled to launch in August. He will appear in national advertising, promos and in-store signage for the Wrangler Five Star Premium Denim line. Shooting for television ads will begin next month. He joins NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and former NFLer Brett Favre as endorsers of the brand. VF Jeanswear VP/Marketing Communications Craig Errington said the three athletes will be featured in the same campaign, but there are no plans to have all of them star together in the same commercial. He said, “That would certainly be an interesting and logical segment of the campaign. But we won’t really use all three of them in this upcoming campaign.” Errington noted it was “a little bit of a coincidence" that Brees, Earnhardt and Favre all hail from the Southern region of the U.S. Errington said, “The reason why we have relationships with them is because they share some of these common traits of being authentic and down to earth and approachable. One of the other tie-ins that we have with all of our guys, and it continues with Drew Brees too, is our brand positioning is all around comfort, and comfortable jeans. Drew Brees is a great example of a well-known, successful athlete who’s just extremely comfortable in who he is and what his life is, and that really is a nice connection and relationship with a brand like Wrangler.” The brand has no current plans to add additional athletes to its endorser roster. Errington said, “We feel like with those three guys in particular, they are supporting the business that Wrangler has within the mass market retail distribution channel."
