Marketplace Round-Up
During yesterday's Boston Marathon, "hundreds of college students [all spectators] plastered Reebok promotional slogans on their foreheads for a fee." Reebok CMO Micky Pant agreed to pay agency Bennett Global "a base fee, plus a bonus if [Reebok] got good mileage out of the promotion." Working with another agency, Mr. Youth LLC, Bennett Global "recruited and paid 100 students," and agency CEO Jeff Bennett "estimates those students handed out another 1,000 tattoos." Should the promo work, Pant indicated that Reebok "will advertise on foreheads at other sporting events." Pant "envisions spectators at a tennis match, turning their tattooed heads to a fro in perfect unison" (Greg Gatlin, BOSTON HERALD, 4/22). adidas is an official sponsor of the Boston Marathon (THE DAILY).
HORSE PLAY: The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Liz Mullen reports the NTRA and Universal Studios' plans to cross-promote the movie "Seabiscuit," set for a July 25 release, include a short film on the history of thoroughbred racing to be shown on thousands of theater screens" this summer; an NTRA-produced hour-long special, "The Making of 'Seabiscuit,'" to air on ESPN Classic; and caps and T-shirts co-branded with the NTRA and movie logos. Also, "Seabiscuit" moviegoers "will be able to use their ticket stubs to get into racetracks." Universal has agreed in principle to buy ad time to air "Seabiscuit" trailer spots on NTRA summer racing specials on CBS and ESPN. NTRA Senior VP/Marketing & Industry Relations Keith Chamblin said, "I would say it's one of the most important marketing initiatives we have ever undertaken in our somewhat brief existence." Chamblin added that the NTRA "has committed to spend 'several hundred thousand dollars' of its about $19[M] 2003 marketing budget on the film" (SBJ, 4/21 issue).
 | | | NOTES: Nike last Wednesday broke the 17th and "what looks to be its last spot" in the 16-year "Spike & Mike" campaign for Nike's Air Jordan. The spot, via Wieden & Kennedy, is directed by Spike Lee and features both Lee and Michael Jordan. Lee, as the "Mars Blackmon" character, "incessantly phones Jordan to ask if he's really retiring." While Jordan is not seen in the ad, his voice responds to Mars. The spot closes with the copy: "Thanks and goodbye Michael" (ADWEEK, 4/21 issue)....In DC, Scott Silverstein reviewed Midway's "MLB Slugfest 20-04" video game and wrote that "for the second year in a row, Midway took a sport that had little trouble making itself look ridiculous and somehow made it even more of a farce." The '04 game "accentuat[es] almost everything negative about a sport in disrepair." For example, players "look and play like steroid-fueled maniacs. ... Not only do you get a button just to throw beanballs, but you are encouraged to throw them to hurt players on the other team" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 4/20).
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