Reebok says $4 million well spent on Super Bowl
http://www.nj.com/newsflash/business/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?g0350_BC_MA–ReebokAd&&news&newsflash-financial
The Associated Press
CANTON, Mass. (AP) — Reebok Co. said Monday the $4 million it spent to broadcast its 60-second “Terry Tate: Office Linebacker” commercial during the Super Bowl was worth every penny.
The Canton-based footwear and apparel company said downloads of an expanded version of the commercial — which fared well in a number of relatively unscientific polls published Monday in which viewers were asked to rank commercials — were running three per second and totaled 140,000 by noon on Monday.
The ad featured a trash-talking, head-bashing linebacker named Terry who wreaks havoc around a generic office, blind-siding an employee who lingers too long on break and taunting him as if he were a sacked quarterback.
Reebok plans to roll out sequels in the coming weeks in which Tate rampages through a hotel where the service is unsatisfactory and recounts the origins of his career: as a street mime unable to contain his rage at ringing cell phones during his performances.
What does this have to do with selling shoes and apparel? Reebok’s chief marketing officer, Micky Pant, said in a phone interview Monday that the ad is intended to boost Reebok’s NFL apparel line (Tate wears a football jersey), but that the focus will shift to shoes.
“It was $4 million bucks,” he said. “But we reckon about 400 million people saw the Super Bowl. So it’s really a penny per viewer.”
Reebok shares closed down 23 cents, at $29.71, Monday on the New York Stock Exchange.
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