Sports Marketing: Pushing the Envelope

From today's WSJ (thanks dad):

"In New Zealand, German sportswear maker Adidas has launched a marketing campaign to bring fans closer to the country's hugely popular All Blacks rugby team -- by sharing samples of the players' blood.

The blood, taken from every member of the national team, was mixed into the ink used to make a poster of the team given to fans who buy a $70 team jersey made by Adidas. Each of the 8,000 posters comes with a certificate of authenticity."

This idea is creepy. From a PR standpoint, I would have had a tought time approving this campaign. I am absolutely amazed that Adidas has not received bad PR from this event.

"The idea for the 'Bonded by Blood' campaign came from ad agency TBWA\Whybin, a joint venture majority-owned by Omnicom Group of New York. Around the Asian-Pacific region, TBWA has developed a reputation for pushing the envelope with stunts for Adidas, such as dangling soccer players off billboards in Japan and bouncing around soccer fans inside a giant ball in New Zealand. Both of those campaigns won major creative awards at the Cannes advertising festival."

These are interesting ideas, but I really wonder if they would have the same positive affect in the States.