Brian Urlacher, marketing genius

August 6th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

Interesting interview in Peter King’s seemingly caffeine-free (hey, the season hasn’t started yet; PK better not be on the white pony already) MMQB column today: apparently, Brian Urlacher knows how to generate positive brand identity.

You know the awesome Vitamin Water commercial with David Ortiz? Yep: Urlacher’s idea:

Me: Tell me about the badminton commercial you made with David Ortiz. What was that like?

Urlacher: “He’s a great guy. Great guy. The one problem was, I couldn’t understand half the stuff he was saying. It took us about eight hours one day in the spring. We did it down where he has spring training [in Fort Myers, Fla.] with the Red Sox. The interesting thing about how the commercial came about was, I told vitaminwater we play badminton in the locker room sometimes, and it’s a cool company. They designed a commercial with me and David playing.”

That’s right, folks: not only are we currently faced with the revelation that members of the Chicago Bears play special teams in the locker room (somewhere, George Halas is spinning), but that Brian Urlacher took that abnormality and, with the help of Vitamin Water, turned it into a high-concept television spot.

Now, if only he would take up some ground level promotional gigs …