After Shakira and Panasonic had recently agreed to extend their partnership for one more year until March 2008, the new advertisements were released in Latin America. Shakira will continue promoting Panasonic audio visual products, including Lumix digital cameras, the Viera plasma television, print, and point-of-sale poster advertisements.  The commercials were filmed in the Bahamas.

A flash version of the advertisement can be seen at the Latin American Panasonic website.  The commercial for the Panasonic Lumix digital camera can be seen by clicking here, and the Panasonic Viera plasma television commercial can be seen by clicking here. 

The commercials are elegant, beautifully done, and should be a hit.

The advertising face of Nikon digital cameras is Kate Moss:

And the face of Canon digital cameras is Russian tennis superstar Maria Sharapova:

The NBA Draft is being held tonight 6/28/07 at the WaMu Theater in Madison Square Garden and I hope to be in attendance at the event.  You can expect fans, sports agents, team representatives, and yes advertising executives to all be present at this years draft.  The current draft class hopes to be a promising one among advertisers because of big names like Greg Oden and Kevin Durant.

 The main attraction will be the 7-foot-tall Greg Oden of the Ohio State Buckeyes who will be the first overall pick unless something drastic occurs.  As mentioned in an earlier post, Kevin Durant has already signed major deals including one with EA sports.  Greg Oden on the other hand has signed bigger and better deals.  Mr. Oden has already signed deals with Nike, Spalding, Take Two Interactive, and Raymond Weill. (He will be wearing a Raymond Weill watch at the NBA draft.)

 Greg Oden seems especially ecstatic with the Nike Deal as he says in his personal blog:

 ”I am officially a part of the Nike Family. It feels so good to have all of that taken care of. The deal is really good for a big man, the biggest rookie big man deal. I’m very proud of that, but to be honest I really just like their shoes. “

 There will be tons of partnerships and major deals in young basketball stars future.  Enjoy the draft!

http://www.yardbarker.com/users/gregoden

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003604296

http://adage.com/article?article_id=118870

Kevin Durant who is forecasted to be a lottery pick this year, seems to be media savvy, learning from the likes of Lebron James.  Already participating in an advertising campaign with EA Sports.  The Texas Longhorn star along with Gilbert Arenas of the Washington Wizards is promoting the NBA Live 2008 game.

In “Button,” Arenas and Durant practice dribbling with their eyes closed. Arenas tells the rookie to repeat inspirational phrases, although the last line, “No man will stop me, except for Gilbert Arenas,” causes Durant to break his rhythm.

The ad “Button” can be watched at the link below, thanks to Media Post for the story.

http://video.mediapost.com/index.cfm?clientfile=Button_30_7493.mpg