Ugg for Men has launched an integrated marketing campaign with a new spot starring Patriots QB Tom Brady. The campaign is titled "For ___ For Men." The Brady spot, developed by M&C Saatchi, L.A., is titled "For Gamechangers." It depicts the QB in street clothes, including a pair of Ugg shoes, reliving some of his defining moments. Brady starts on a high school team bus, but as he walks through it, the bus transforms into a Univ. of Michigan locker room and then a post-Super Bowl press conference (
Ugg). The company also has put up "Brady-focused tall walls from UGG for Men ... on the Mass Pike" across from Fenway Park (
BOSTON.com, 9/4). MASSLIVE.com's Nick O'Malley wrote the campaign "appears to be aiming directly for that demographic that has long derided the company as a feminine brand." If the latest ad is "any indication of the image that the company is trying to set, it may have a chance." However, it has a "long way to go" (
MASSLIVE.com, 9/3).
CENTER OF ATTENTION: Brady appeared on CNBC this morning to discuss his TB12 Sports Therapy Center. He said the center "should be open in a week or two" and its main principle is to have a "well-rounded approach to being your best at any age and that is a lifestyle decision." CNBC's Andrew Ross Sorkin said Brady "seems to take a different approach to sponsorships than a lot of other athletes" in that Brady tries to "take equity" in the company he is endorsing. Brady: "I'm in a very fortunate position where I'm able to choose the things that I really believe in and be associated with people that I have the same vision. I think how I feel about what I represent is important to me." Brady said, "When I'm choosing to put my name behind something like TB12 Sports Therapy Center I wholly believe in everything that we're trying to accomplish there." At the end of the interview, CNBC's Joe Kernen noted Brady is married to a supermodel, is good-looking, intelligent and wealthy, and asked, "Are you bad at something or you've got some vice of some sort? … Anything that you can tell us that is disgusting about you? Just give me something." Brady said of Patriots Owner Robert Kraft, who had appeared on the net earlier in the day, "If he's on there the rest of the day, I'm sure he's got a couple of stories in him. I'm sure I do plenty of things that annoy my wife" ("Squawk Box," CNBC, 9/4).
