January 2007

Here’s the latest spot for the NBA, done by Wieden + Kennedy NY(with Paul Renner and Derek Barnes acting as CDs) and produced by Blacklist.

I’m a sucker for animations like this, especially when they bring up something I’d love to see(A game at the Staples Center without a visiting team). Denis Kamioka was the director with Coke Ferreiro as the Executive Producer.

If only the Lakers were still a good team, we miss you Shaq!!!

So apparently Crocs, those ugly but ridiculously comfortable plastic shoes, has just signed a deal with with both the National Football League and the National Hockey League with plans to offer team-branded shoes for all 32 NFL teams, as well as all 30 NHL teams. Boy has this company come far in a short period of time.

Crocs–which also has licenses with Disney and more than 75 colleges and universities–said the two new licensing arrangements also cover Jibbitz, the little doodads the company sells to fit into the shoes’ perforations.

(MediaPost)

Started in November of 2002 by three Boulder, CO residents it has utilized very little marketing plans, relying more on word of mouth to support sales. The company has seen its sales grow from $1.2 million in 2003 to $108 million in 2005, so needless to say this company has become its own latest “craze.”

Known for their comfort and medicinal benefits, these shoes have not stormed onto the scene without its’ fair share of backlash…after all, these things are pretty ugly.

That being said, talk about the power of word-of-mouth marketing!! Crocs even has their own team of celebrity spokesmen who [reportedly] are unpaid. Every time I watch the US version of Iron Chef on the Food Network, Mario Batali is always shown sporting a pair. These type of marketing results remind of Stormhoek which advertised only via blogs/word-of-mouth. Good stuff.