In Izod Campaign, QB Aaron Rodgers Spoofs QBs In Marketing Campaigns
Wednesday, September 5, 2018 at 03:54PM By Barry Janoff
September 5, 2018: NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and NBC's Saturday Night Live cast member and head writer Colin Jost star in a new humorous multi-media campaign for Izod, which both embraces and pokes fun at traditional advertising techniques.
The campaign’s anchor TV spot, appropriately called “Ad Clichés,” is filled with numerous scenes that have become overworked on Madison Avenue (including some of our own ads, said Izod).
Among the clichés: good-looking models wearing fashionable clothing inappropriate for the sports action being shown, a popular athlete making an MVP cameo (here during a neighborhood pick-up football game and at a party), special effects that make the product seem extraordinary beyond belief and a twist on a popular tag line, which ends up coming out as "Just Go Buy It."
Izod, a division of PVH Corp., said this would be its “most integrated marketing effort to-date.”
“We set out to develop a spot that would make Izod consumers do a double-take, while also letting them know we’re in on the joke,” Mike Kelly, CMO Heritage Marketing and chief innovation officer for PVH, said in a statement.
“Izod has always been known as the go-to brand for golf and the beach, but we wanted to make it top-of-mind for the fall, as well. This fresh concept allows us to break through the seasonal mindset.”
Rodgers, who just signed a four-year, $134 million contract extension with the Green Bay Packers, employs his low-key humor previously seen in commercials — while also poking fun at himself — for State Farm and others.
His scene quarterbacking a pick-up football game actually mirrors a TV spot from years ago done by a previous Packers quarterback, Brett Farve, for Wrangler Jeans.
“I really liked the concept of the spot and had a blast shooting with Izod,” said Rodgers in a statement. “I know fans will appreciate the humor Colin and I brought to the field, and may even be surprised by my lesser-known ‘off-the-field talents’ shown in these spots.”
At one point, Jost, who is supposed to be the main player in the ad, finds Rodgers overshadowing him in every scene. In stereotypical Madison Avenue commercial voiceover, he says, “Hey, Aaron Rodgers, this is my commercial. So do your cameo and get out of here.”
Later, when Rodgers is still hogging the spotlight, a worried Jost says in voiceover, “Is Aaron Rodgers following me around?”
The spot’s actual voiceover seeks to soothe his feelings: “Colin makes it look easy . . . with a slo-motion finish.”
The full 60-second Izod spot will also air in shorter 30-second versions via national and local TV placements, supported by digital and social media partnerships and engagement.
Creative was handled by PVH’s in-house marketing group. Izod said Jost partnered on script development,
According to Jost, "I liked the idea of doing an ad that was self-aware and that made fun of all the weird tropes from fashion commercials. I wanted to be the guy in the commercial looking around like, 'Who are these people?'”
PVH brands also include Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Van Heusen, Arrow, Speedo, Warner’s Olga, Geoffrey Beene and True&Co.
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