• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, January 7, 2010

Now's the chance for BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion to seize the spotlight from Apple and Google in the smartphone wars. RIM can thank the Weatherproof Garment Company for opening up a new marketing opportunity after it put up a billboard in Times Square this week showing President Obama wearing what looks like one of its coats.

Weatherproof's president Freddie Stollmack was quoted in a New York Times story yesterday saying he recognized the coat in a photo taken during the presidential visit to China. The image captures Obama in a dramatic pose in front of the Great Wall with the company name emblazoned over it and copy reading "A Leader in Style." That's the Audacity of Hype.

An Obama Administration spokesperson told The Times the White House has a longstanding policy disapproving the use of the president's name and likeness for commercial purposes and that it plans to contact Weatherproof today about taking down the billboard.

Of course, the company has already reaped plenty of publicity from the ad. Unlike the Weatherproof jacket, one product the president is known for his devotion to is the BlackBerry. It's probably in his coat pocket. Obama famously clung to the device after taking office last year despite security concerns that typically require a new president to give up such gadgets. (A special encryption package ultimately allowed him to keep the BlackBerry at his side.)

So while the White House is distracted with Weatherproof, RIM can slap up its own Times Square billboard of the president toting his trusty BlackBerry against a dramatic backdrop similar to the Great Wall. Ad copy? "BlackBerry. When the phone rings at 3 a.m." If the White House calls to complain, perhaps Toronto-based RIM could run the ads in Canada, or that new market the company is getting into where Obama is already quite popular--China.