The Minnesota Timberwolves P.R. department has done it again. For the second time in three years, they’ve come up with a creative idea to push Kevin Love’s candidacy for a league honor. Two years ago, it was this awesome sales pitch to make Love the Rookie of the Year (their effort fell short). This time around, they’re marketing a men’s cologne called “Numb#rs” to the media, which is a way to promote Love’s impressive stats this season.
As part of Minnesota’s push to get Love into the All-Star game, “A box was mailed to all Western Conference coaches that includes a bottle of “Numb#rs” cologne, a DVD with a 30-second commercial for the product that spoofs an ultra-serious fragrance ad, an advertisement that includes Love and a local model dressed to the nines and a list of his accomplishments on the back, and a bottle of face lotion just for good measure.” They’ve also created this awesome web site 612allstar.com that is full of comments from media members, coaches, and player describing Love’s talents.
The campaign is right up there with what the Blazers did for Brandon Roy, and what Chris Bosh did for himself.
The shame of it all is that Minnesota felt the need to launch a campaign like this in order to promote Love’s candidacy. We wrote a month ago that Love has a chance to join Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Bob Pettit, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the extremely exclusive 20-15 club. He’s playing at a historical level and proving he’s one of the best players in the league. Why should he be penalized for his team’s pathetic 10-35 record when he’d be putting up the same stats on a better team? The promotional campaign was catchy and creative, but it should not be necessary to get him on the All-Star team.
Here’s the funny Numbers cologne video, as first seen at The Basketball Jones:
