A basketball-playing Thierry Henry will appear in his first TV advert for Reebok tonight, having been poached from Nike earlier this year to be the face of its £20m campaign.
The pan-European campaign, created by ad agency Leagas Delaney, will get its first airing during England's European Championship qualifier against Macedonia.
The ad, which uses the strapline "Think you know me?", features Arsenal's French star playing a sport other than football to build a concept of intrigue around the Reebok brand.
The 10-second commercial has been designed as a teaser to get the youth audience to go online for more information. It closes with a link to RBK.com. A 30-second version of the ad will run only in France.
"The thinking behind the campaign has been driven by the need to take a different approach to a youth audience, different to the blockbuster strategy of a brand like Nike," said Mark Gerrard, the head of account management at Leagas Delaney.
"We want to push the idea of the TV spot as directional, that something is going on with Thierry Henry and to find out check out the website."
RBK.com is being developed into a full community and content site that will deliver films and interviews. Mr Gerrard said the aim was to make it a "destination site for youth".
"We need to be relevant to the youth mindset and that means moving from an interruptive model - big broadcast media screaming out - to engagement," said Andy Towne, the European marketing director at Reebok.
"This means a move to digital media, the likes of internet, mobile and gaming. It is about balancing spend and we need to do more with content than just a 30-second ad or a poster, although TV is of course great for signposting."
The media planning and buying for the campaign, which will also run in several European countries, has been handled by OMD.
Henry signed with Reebok in April but was under contract with Nike until August 1. He appeared in the US company's World Cup advertising campaign.
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