The Undie Ambush Pays Off.

If only Brandi Chastain had had a little more forethought. Other than Jim Plamer in the 1970’s for jockey and maybe a little bit of Joe Namath in panty house, no other athlete captured a moment by showing off her undies than Chastain did with her game-winning goal in the Women’s World Cup in 1999. There it was, cover of Sports Illustrated, Time, Newsweek, black and pretty much unbranded.

However the world of undies today is very hot, and a recent USA Today story went to great lengths to talk about those atheles, from Dwight Howard and Cam newton to Caroline Wozniacki and her own line of underwear that have hit the media recently.

Then we have the real entreprenurial spirit of Nicklas Bendtner of Denmark. Many have tried to ambush major events recently, especially Euro 2012, but Bendtner let his undies do the talking. After scoring against Portugal this week, the Dane let his shorts drop just enough during the celebration to let an endorsement for the betting site “Paddy Power” make its way on to TV.  Making it even more ambush is the fact that the The Danish FA is sponsored by a competitior,  Ladbrokes, who spends hefty sums to support various football clubs across Europe and got a bit of an upstage in an event that, ala the Olympics, is supposed to be sponsor-free when it comes to team kits. Bendtner claimed ignorance, saying he was wearing lucky underwear, but it was an ambush marketers dream…roll the dice with a player, hope to catch a moment and hope that the player has the wherewithall to deliver on what was promised. It would be akin to David Wright of the Mets grabbing a coke following a walkoff home run, while the team sponsored partners at Pepsi watched in disappointment.

Now maybe underwear is now prime real estate, surpassing hats, body tattoos, socks and other suddenly unique areas called into conflict. It certainly had surprise, clear placement and a great amount of forthought. Uefa was not amused and is looking at ways to stop such infiltration again with some big fines on players who willingly engage in an ambush, but for one night on an international stage, Paddy Power took quite a gamble that paid off for their brand.  Brandi should be proud.