Underwear Gaming? Hanes Jumps In With An Obso-elite Prize.
November 9, 2009 by Shawn Deena
Filed under Video Game Marketing
I powned you in my Hanes!
The easiest way for a company to get connected to the millions of potential gaming customers is through a tie-in with a game release or even better, in-game advertising. Then of course there are those who raise the bar a little higher by working with one of the big three to come up with some creative way to market two products.
This latest campaign by Hanes (yes, the people who make underwear, sweatpants and those boxers that Michael Jordan wears) is one for the books though — http://gameincomfort.nastage.com/
win my outdated ass
Relax and Game
The contest will dole out weekly prizes of Hanes swag (hundreds of dollars worth), a new 360 with two controllers and 10 games.
- What games you ask? No idea
- What system you wonder? The Xbox 360 — wait for it — Pro!
You remember the Pro don’t you? The one that is now obsolete because Microsoft dropped the price on the elite so there’s no reason for the “in-between” 60-gig model. See you’ve got the no memory Arcade model on the cheap low end (same price as the now defunct Pro) and the Elite on the now reduced price high end s0 the Pro — it’s just a third wheel.
We’re not saying they don’t exist anymore, we’re just saying a lot of retailers didn’t refill that order form when they finally cleared the last one off the shelf. So you’ve got a bunch of consoles sitting around not working for you, why not make ‘em work for someone else and get some free marketing to boot? It’s a smart idea but when you look at consumer products you normally associate with videogames (beverages, snack foods, comfy chairs) you don’t necessarily go — Hanes! Granted it’s safe to say that probably 20 percent of the gamers out there do game in their underwear and maybe half of them are wearing Hanes so maybe, just maybe this might work. And yes, they do make other stuff now besides underwear but let’s face it, that is what they’re famous for.
They’ve certainly made entering the contest easy enough. All you do is go to the site, write your own Hanes gaming comfort tips, enter the required data and you’re entered.
As far as creative videogame marketing ideas go, we’ll give them an A for coming up with a simple campaign that combines branding, humor and multi-layered marketing. Check out the goofy videos they have on the contest site.
The gauntlet is down Fruit of the Loom — watcha gonna do?
