K-Swiss demonstrate the Powers of Media Neutrality

One of the myriad benefits online media platforms provide to brands is that they don’t need to appease the censors that stand between them and a TV audience.

If you want to do something a little risque or simply profane you can upload it, promote it and hope it goes viral.

One example is this video in which Kenny Powers from Eastbound and Down becomes CEO (or rather MFCEO) of K-Swiss. In it the character played by Danny McBride sets about recruiting a number of athletes, including NFL stars Matt Cassel and Patrick Willis, MMA champions Jon “Bones” Jones and Urijah Faber, and super-trainer Jillian Michaels to run various departments within the company and promote the Tubes line of footwear.

Warning! Lots of profanity, probably best listened to on headphones…

The campaign is also supported on Facebook and uses Microsoft Tag technology to enter consumers into sweepstakes and provide them with secret content when they scan the K-Swiss posters in Footlocker.

“Pretty much every person walking around has a mobile device. It is an accepted medium of communication that consumers are becoming more aware of.”  said Bryan Ogle, K-Swiss director of business development, explaining the strategy.

“Mobile is not ancillary but rather complementary to the overall messaging strategies employed during this campaign. Significant visual content was created for this campaign and mobile aids the brand in delivering the content to the consumer.” he added.

Initial reaction to the online content has been positive with the target audience and with more family friendly pieces being filmed for a TV audience the campaign is a great example of a brand maximising the benefits of each media channel rather than simply putting an extended TV ad online.