• by Aaron Baar , May 21, 2009

Boost Mobile, the prepaid division of Sprint Nextel, is adding some celebrity star power to its "Unwronged" advertising campaign in the form of IndyCar driver Danica Patrick.

Patrick will appear in two commercials airing for the company, with the first one breaking during the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday. In one, the driver illustrates the "wrongs" of other companies' prepaid phone plans by putting Patrick's pit crew in skimpy women's clothing (such as tube tops and high heels). "Think that's wrong?" Patrick asks before comparing other prepaid mobile plans to Boost's. A second commercial depicts Patrick signing men's cleavage.

"Danica is a great partner. She is a good representation of the Boost brand," says Peiti Feng, manager of media and advertising for Boost Mobile. "She's funny, she's edgy, she's competitive. By bringing her into the campaign, it broadens our appeal to a wider customer base."

This is the first time Patrick has appeared in one of Boost's commercials. Earlier this year, the company announced it would sponsor Patrick's Number 7 IndyCar, which has been repainted black and orange to match Boost's color scheme. As part of the sponsorship, Boost is conducting a sweepstakes through which one winner will win a trip to the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma in Sonoma, Calif. this August. In addition, the company has said that if Patrick wins this year's Indy 500, it will give away 500 Motorola Clutch 1465 handsets and $300 worth of Boost service.

Earlier this year, Boost Mobile launched an advertising campaign that showed other "wrong" situations like a woman with unnaturally long armpit hair riding a bicycle and a man being carried around by another man in a baby carrier. In both cases, the situations were intended to illustrate that the way other prepaid companies treat their customers is wrong.

"We feel like the 'Unwronged' campaign has a lot of great momentum," Feng says. "It's a different and unconventional way to approach the wrongs of the industry. We don't want to deviate from the platform and we found a unique way to work [Patrick] into it."

After the Indianapolis 500, the spots featuring Patrick will appear on other television networks, and a 60-second version of the pit crew spot will be featured in cinema advertising beginning on June 17, in conjunction with the opening of "Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen." The campaign was created by advertising agency 180LA.