I think that the use of Will Ferrell’s new character, Jackie Moon, to promote brands in a way that hack athletes (and super-stars too) often do is possibly the best example of mass engagement marketing we are likely to see from a comedy this year (not necessarily surprising, when you consider what a genius Ferrell is). Batman wins the accolade of best film marketing in a more generic contest, but then Semi-Pro and Jackie Moon’s marketing tactics are perhaps less fan-boy, and far more fun-boy.

No idea what I’m on about?

Begin your training here, with the Semi-Pro teaser:

The official Semi-Pro trailer might tell you a little more:

The Rated R trailer brings the whole film to life, with Will Ferrell’s genius comedy:

A full length music video is when this promotion starts to move into the realms of art imitating life (and just to show that they understand the whole user-generated content thing, there’s a competition to create your own music video on the official site)

And this is where it gets interesting. Given Will Ferrell’s status in American comedy, it’s not surprising that this is a highly anticipated film and product placement & using celebrities to sell your products are certainly nothing new. But using him, in character as Jackie Moon, to sell other people’s stuff shows a true understanding of engagement advertising. Bravely putting your brand in the hands of a stronger one (Mr Ferrel), when successful, should positively effect impressions and attributes of your own product.

Putting that into Superbowl advertising slots benefits both parties!

Putting out your own Jackie Moon Semi-Pro tie-in shortly after the Superbowl had aired, asking people to vote and then giving them another 30 second spot as a prize, is absolutely brilliant. Thank you Old Spice, it was a pleasure!

However, not putting them on YouTube is rather short-sighted… but it does force people onto the official Old Spice site.

Finally, as if to show that they’re not completely digital/TV-centric, there’s even a photo-shoot starring Will, as Jackie Moon, and the ever distracting Heidi Klum in the new Sports Illustrated Swimwear Issue.

We’ll update you if there are more adventures of Jackie Moon and Semi-Pro!

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