Cuban, to his credit, has always seemed to be in relatively good shape. Apparently, he plans to give credit where it’s due with a Super Bowl ad for Skechers’ fitness footwear. From Matt Townsend for Bloomberg.com (story via TBJ):
Billionaire Mark Cuban, who will be featured in an advertisement for Skechers USA Inc. (SKX) shoes during the Super Bowl, said he isn’t an investor in the company.
“I just really like mid-foot strike technology and Skechers is the best,” Cuban said today in an e-mail. “I have been wearing their shoes since they came out 3 or 4 years ago.” [...]
The Super Bowl ad highlighting Skechers’ GOrun shoe will be part of a campaign that also includes Cuban in print and online marketing, the company said. Skechers has been working to increase its appeal as an athletic brand with endorsement deals with former professional sports stars such as Joe Montana and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
You might think that Cuban doth protest too much, but he’s probably the only celebrity who could say “I just really like mid-foot strike technology” and not have it come across as a line some executive gave him to sound like a scientist. Cuban’s a nerd like few others, and it’s likely he only bought these shoes – if he did at all – after careful research into the technology.
More than that, he’s more in line with Skechers’ ideal fan base for these shoes than more fetching spokespeople like Kim Kardashian and Brooke Burke. That’s true not just in age or looks, but in the sense that Cuban projects an everyman appeal despite being worth billions of dollars. His Skechers spots will be based on self-improvement, not some wildly aspirational belief that shoes that moderately help the core can help a man bed the former host of E!’s “Wild On.”
To think of it another way, Cuban will be part of a campaign that turns men into the best version of themselves. Which, incidentally, is what the Mavericks became last spring. It’s a perfect fit!
