Patriots QB Tom Brady will be featured in three spots this fall as part of UGG Australia’s first global brand marketing campaign, which will be titled “This Is UGG.” The spots, via M&C Saatchi, L.A., will be launched throughout the ’14 NFL season; the first one -- “Time Out” -- launched yesterday. The “Time Out” spot focuses on Brady and his father playing golf together (
UGG). MEDIABISTRO.com’s Erik Oster noted in the first spot, Brady “shares the message that in life you only get so many time outs.” Brady’s voiceover “plays out over a scene of him driving to play golf with his father.” A spot featuring Brady and his mother is “set to follow in October, with a third entitled ‘Down Time’ arriving in December” (
MEDIABISTRO.com, 9/2). NESN.com’s Anna Fogel noted the “Time Out” spot was “shot in West Newton, Mass.” Fogel, on the additional spots: “No word on whether those will pull at the ol’ heartstrings as well, but we’re guessing the answer is yes” (
NESN.com, 9/2). Turkel Brands Exec
Creative Dir Bruce Turkel said Brady "gives men permission to wear clothes with fur on them because if Tom Brady can do it, anybody can do it." Francis said the boots Brady is wearing in the ad "don't seem to be related to the silly, iconic" boots that Ugg sells. Turkel said, "That's the message they have to get across because otherwise … you think [of] sleepy girls in airports with pajamas with those goofy-looking boots on -- and guys aren't going to wear those" (
"Money with Melissa Francis," Fox Business, 9/2). Meanwhile, in Boston, Bryanna Cappadonna noted Brady’s “new billboard for Ugg boots is now paneled in its rightful place over the Mass Pike.” Cappadonna: “Like clockwork, the billboard seems to be replaced with a new brooding photo of our quarterback every September” (
BOSTONMAGAZINE.com, 8/29).
THE BRADY BUNCH: In Baltimore, Lorraine Mirabella notes two days after Nike outbid it for Thunder F Kevin Durant, Under Armour signed Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen "to represent the brand.” The signing of Bundchen, who is married to a fellow Under Armour endorser in Brady, “reflects the growing importance of the Baltimore sports apparel maker’s sales to women.” Marketing experts “called it a smart move to expand sales to women seeking both performance and style.” UA, which is “in the midst of its biggest-ever campaign targeting women,” yesterday announced the signing by “posting a 30-second teaser video on YouTube.” She will join UA’s “I Will What I Want” campaign. Experts say that Bundchen “possesses not only international celebrity status but crossover appeal in the worlds of fashion and fitness.” She joins skier Lindsey Vonn, tennis player Sloane Stephens, U.S. women’s national soccer team F Kelley O’Hara and surfer Brianna Cope in the female-focused campaign. Baltimore-based TBC Advertising President Howe Burch said that it is “unclear whether it was coincidental that the Bundchen announcement came so soon after Durant’s decision to stay with Nike, but it could help stoke the competition” (Baltimore SUN, 9/3). Turkel said much as Brady does with Ugg, Bundchen "gives women permission to wear this brand." Turkel: "More importantly, Under Armour saw what Lululemon was doing -- getting $90 for a pair of stretch-nothing made out of Lycra -- so it would make perfect sense. They already have the technology, they already have the distribution chain -- all they have to do is get women to want to come in and buy their products" ("Money with Melissa Francis," Fox Business, 9/2).
