Coach K loses, but his annoying ads remain

There’s danger any time an advertiser hitches its star to a participant in an athletic tournament. When Andy Roddick laid an egg at the 2005 U.S. Open, AmEx spent the fortnight hunting for his mojo. Which brings us to Mike Krzyzewski, aka Coach Kommercial. Duke University’s head shiller, er, men’s basketball coach is no stranger to ads. He has bombarded us with reminders that he thinks of himself as a leader, not a basketball coach. He wants to sell us credit cards, cars, even insurance. This man knows it all. He really is a leader. But State Farm probably wishes he would have focused on the basketball coach part, because it’s stuck with Coach K as a star of its commercials for the rest of March Madness, even though Duke lost last night. If State Farm pulls the ads now, the tastefully named blog “I was told there would be bacon” will be pleased. It writes: “And if I have to see this State Farm commercial with Mike Krzyzewski a million times during the tournament, I’m switching to Geico. Or Progressive. Wait, not Geico. I can’t stand those stupid-ass caveman commercials. Progressive it will be!”

—Posted by Brian Morrissey

March 16, 2007 in Morrissey | Permalink