Names & Faces: Horace Grant, You're The One; Kobetwo Ad
The first 5,000 fans at TD Waterhouse Centre for Sunday's Spurs-Magic game will receive a free Magic F Horace Grant Celebriduck rubber duck. Magic Dir of Ticket Sales & Marketing Chris D'Orso: "We hope this will be the next hot thing following Beanie Babies, bobble-heads and Pez dispensers." Magic Assistant Dir of Marketing Matt Biggers said that the ducks cost the Magic $3-4 each but "would probably retail for about $10" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 1/30).
KOBE TOO: ADWEEK's Sarah Heim reports that a 30-second TV ad, via Portland-based agency Red Button, for Lakers G Kobe Bryant's signature adidas Kobetwo sneaker will break on network and cable early next month. Red Button creative partner Andrew Jenkins said that basketball ads have become "too polished, too marketed and too consumer-savvy." Jenkins added that the Kobetwo campaign "sought to recapture the true spirit of the game" (ADWEEK, 1/28 issue).
BRAZIL NUTS: Pele is "negotiating an advertising deal to convince Brazilian men of the benefits of" Viagra. An ad agency source involved in the proposed deal said, "In a World Cup year this is a very strong hook (for the product)." Sources close to Pele "also confirmed that negotiations are taking place" (AUSTRALIAN, 1/29).
WILD & CRAZY GUY? On "PTI" last night, former NFLer and current CBS NFL analyst Deion Sanders said Eagles QB Donovan McNabb "needs to step-up his interviewing game, because off-camera, I mean, this guy is wild. He's funny, he does impersonations," but he's the opposite on-camera. Sanders, on McNabb's on-camera persona: "Nobody wants to hear that mess. Chunky Soup will put up with that mess but the other endorsers don't want to hear that mess" ("PTI," ESPN, 1/30).
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