Archive for November 19th, 2009
The Captain Can’t Pass Up a Guerilla Marketing Opportunity
Last week, Eagle’s tight end Brent Celek made headlines when he struck a Captain Morgan pose after getting a touchdown. This was a bold move for the football player. He made guerilla-marketing history by putting a well-known brand smack dab in the middle of a football game that was televised internationally. This generated huge publicity for the brand. All this commotion got me thinking. What does this mean for the future of sports marketing?
The NFL quickly squashed the campaign; fearing more brands and players would pull such stunts, potentially ruining the game. The NFL threatened each “poser” with a $10, 000 to $100,000 penalty, depending on the game. Supposedly, players are restricted from “wearing, displaying, promoting or otherwise conveying their support of a commercially identified product during a game while they’re on the field.”
Captain Morgan, himself, spoke up to defend the stunt:
“Captain Morgan here, as you know I believe in celebrating legendary times with my fans and my friends and always doing so in a socially responsible manner. I am a man of action, a man of the moment, and I always make fun a priority. And when it comes to football what is more fun than a touchdown? I believe in drinking responsibly, marketing responsibly and helping charities too, but understand my friends at the NFL’s perspective. I will continue in my quest for legendary times and ask my fans to do the same.”
Sounds like my kind of captain!
