Maxell Targets Youth Market With X Games Campaign

By John Laposky -- TWICE, 7/17/2006

Fair Lawn, N.J. — Maxell is taking its iconic “Blow Away Guy” to Los Angeles next month for a major sponsorship of X Games 12, the action sports competition.

The sponsorship deal with ESPN, organizer of X Games 12, will leverage a promotions and advertising campaign featuring Maxell's “Blow Away” icon and the X Games property. The campaign officially kicked off in May with a billboard in New York's Times Square and will be followed by a print and online ad campaign and a television spot in conjunction with the sponsorship. The print and online campaign will run in gaming, computer, sports, music and men's publications, including titles such as Rolling Stone, Stuff and Wired, and on Yahoo! Music.

X Games 12 will take place Aug. 3-6 and be televised on ESPN's various channels.

A Web site will support the sponsorship, where consumers can go online to get event information, purchase Maxell apparel and review new and featured products.

“The campaign connects our long-standing heritage in performance media products with the action-packed activity of the X Games,” said Daniel Lee, Maxell's marketing VP. “The 'Blow Away' icon is still relevant today and even more so to a whole new generation of younger consumers that share, store and enjoy digital music and entertainment.”

During the X Games campaign, Maxell plans to launch an online game targeted at younger consumers that features five characters representing various genres of music. The goal of the game is to eliminate the characters as the “Blow Away Guy.”

Maxell returned to its heritage and formally brought the “Blow Away” icon back to its marketing mix last December, as the centerpiece of a multimillion dollar integrated marketing campaign aimed at a new generation of consumers.