Love this.
Tip of the hat to K-Swiss for a ballsy series of adverts, featuring Kenny Powers, the character played by Danny McBride on HBO’s Eastbound and Down as their official spokesman. Kenny is a former professional baseball pitcher who falls on hard times and becomes a substitute middle school physical education teacher. The series is produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, the guys behind Anchorman and slew of other great things.
Anyway, Kenny is an ass, and the adverts definitely reflect his brashness (e.g. tagline: “If you don’t like them, change your mind”).
K-Swiss joined forces with HBO to hit the young male audience, because Kenny is “known for his unfiltered straight talk’”. What I’m most impressed with though, is this:
It’s a NSFW short, where Kenny Powers lays down his expectations for the brand after getting signed by K-Swiss. It’s ‘Funny or Die’ exclusive, which also shows just how tight this endorsement is run since Ferrell and McKay launched Funny or Die together in April 2007. I think it says a lot about K-Swiss to align themselves with Powers, but even more to release some longer form content online where the real character just lets loose.
The adverts are primarily geared for the US audience, so I wonder what the success will be like? If nothing else, the adverts are entertaining. For more, K-Swiss have uploaded all the videos to their YouTube channel.
