Gildan Activewear‘s edgy 30-second Super Bowl spot – featuring a young couple apparently on a one-night stand – is part of a $25-million plan to boost consumer awareness of the Montreal-based company.
The maker of T-shirts, underwear and socks is trying to make inroads into the competitive apparel business by selling its own Gildan-branded products, in addition to no-name products it makes for discount retailers such as Walmart and T-shirts sold to screenprinters.
The Super Bowl ad – and a shorter version previewed on social media last week – shows a man waking up with a handcuff on his wrist. He’s about to quietly leave the bedroom but returns to the sleeping woman, who is wearing his T-shirt. The ad ends with the guy trying to gently retrieve the shirt without waking the young woman.
Gildan spokeswoman Genevieve Gosselin said the company spent about $4 million for one spot in the U.S. and two in Canada during the Super Bowl. The second spot that aired during the game and was posted online late last year, showed a roller coaster rider taking extreme measures to protect his Gildan underwear.
She said the company started airing TV ads last year during specific events, like the Gildan New Mexico Bowl, but Sunday’s game was the official kick off of a campaign that will air mostly on U.S. cable channels, targeted at millennial audiences under 30 years of age.
“As we are building our brand in the retail channel, we want to start making a connection between the brand name and the shirts people already have and which might already be their favorite,” she wrote in an email.
The company has hired New York-based agency DeVito/Verdi to oversee the print, TV and social media advertising for its Gildan and Gold Toe branded clothing.
