• by Karl Greenberg , May 14, 2013

Put. That. Underwear. Down. Why are you paying $150 for high-end jogging shorts and then wearing regular briefs under them? That's just wrong.

That, in a nutshell (no pun intended) could be a sub-theme for a new campaign from men's underclothing brand Jockey. The company is launching a new line of underwear that, while they could be worn under the khakis, probably should be saved for working out.

The Jockey Sport Performance Underwear line gets the spotlight in a campaign breaking this week that brings back a guy who used to pitch Jockey. He also used to hit pitches. Babe Ruth shows up in “Get Real,” which juxtaposes vintage shots of Jockey products, manufacturing (and the Babe) with modern footage of amateur athletes -- runners, weightlifters, soccer players and basketball players -- in the products.

The effort, via NSG/SWAT includes digital, TV and print creative with GRP Media handling planning and buying. Television ads for the campaign, which dubs the athletic male between 25 and 39 an “Underwear Authority,” will run on ESPN and Comedy Central. There are also print ads in men’s magazines and online outlets.

Dustin Cohn, SVP and CMO of Kenosha, Wis.-based Jockey International, tells Marketing Daily that digital and print elements drill down to product benefits, but with humor. The ads, touting innovations like antimicrobial (hence anti-odor) substrate technology say things like "Smell like victory…not like your friend Victor." Apologies, one assumes, to all Victors who actually DO smell like victory, assuming victory smells good and not like an Achaean laundry after the Trojan War.

The ads are in June issues of Men’s Health and Maxim, and on Complex.com and ESPN.com.

Cohn says the ads deliberately focus on regular -- if active-lifestyle -- folk.

"Showcasing everyday people in our advertising goes back to Babe Ruth, who was a pro athlete but also a real guy," he says, noting that the regular-person approach is thematic for the brand. A '90s campaign had people in different professions showing off their Jockeys.

Cohn says there will be point-of-purchase elements at men's underwear sections of stores like Macy's, Kohl's, and JCPenney, among others. The products won't -- at least for now -- be sold in athletic gear areas.

"This is more an occasion-based proposition for a guy who tends to wear regular underwear for everything," he says. "Guys spend a lot to buy athletic shorts and tops. But what good is that if you are wearing regular cotton underwear?"

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