Sharpie and David Beckham

Sharpie, company selling markers and highlighters, recently announced its new promo campaign with David Beckham. Television ads are already out there and they are funny and interesting, as the Sharpie commercials usually are.

I really like the one where a golf ball is turned into a soccer ball. It is funny, catchy and not boring. One thing that makes this commercial tricky though, is that a viewer needs to know about David & Sharpie deal, in order to get it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QrAHtopmXQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of0ugpv3h_s


However well done these commercials are, in my opinion the best part of this campaign is a print ad I saw in People magazine.
David Beckham, wearing a white T-shirt (white and clean on purpose?) is surrounded by black handwriting introducing you a new Sharpie Pen, which doesn’t bleed through paper. (Get the white t-shirt now?)

This ad works on girls mostly, or on those who find David Beckham sexy. After a text tells you how amazing Sharpie is, it makes fun of you, because you are reading about Sharpie instead of looking at David. But then you look back at the text, because there is still so much to read and you want to know what they have to say.
Compare to other ads filled with almost naked with photo shop adjusted bodies, enormous numbers of colors and promises of impossible, this clear, funny ad has almost a refreshing effect on me.

I’m not sure about one thing though. Is David Beckham helping Sharpie or is Sharpie helping David Beckham? Because in my case, anytime I see Sharpie I think of David Beckham, but not the other way. This wouldn’t make Sharpie very happy, I guess.