by Jonathan Marshall
As we are sitting here creating a full page ad for Vitamin Water for the next issue of College Magazine, we figured it would be a good time for a blog about what they are up to. VitaminWater Revive has paired with Nick Swardson to offer mad tips to survive the NCAA tournament – “Watch as many tournament games as possible in person!” While the team at JTCG are all Nick Swardson fans from movies like “Blades of Glory,” we feel the creative agency really didn’t nail it with this ad.
Big names like VitaminWater have a lot of brand recognition, and when a company has a lot of brand recognition, they like to team up with other big brands or popular events and take advantage of some good ol’ cross-promotional advertising. So its not uncommon for many Creative Agencies to create timelines for their advertising campaigns around nationally-recognized events.
When major brands join forces like this, they can take advantage of one another’s popularity, even if the two don’t necessarily relate to each others product or service- like March Madness for example. Granted- March Madness is for college basketball fanatics (both fans and players), and basketball players are athletes, and athletes drink a lot of VitaminWater, yada yada ya… and the toe bone’s connected to the foot bone, and the foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone, and the ankle bone and so on and so forth… – I get it. But neither March Madness nor the NCAA Tournament is a main focus for VitaminWater during any other month of the year. For big brands, this is time-sensitive creative advertising and yet another effective way to stay in the minds of the consumer by using something that is currently relevant. March Madness is reoccuring yet rare, lasts for an entire month but only that month, and is an overall great opportunity for VitaminWater to latch-on to the coattails of the event and reap the attention it is already receiving.