• by Les Luchter , August 2, 2023

Pro wrestling is a mix of scripted and unscripted content revolving around frenetic personalities.

So too with the kickoff creative for C4’s “Not Safe for Work” campaign, in which four wrestling superstars were set loose and filmed in WWE’s headquarters building.

“We decided, what if we were to bring the most absurd talent to this office, supercharge them with 300 mg of caffeine, and just see what happens,” Matt Salvatore, vice president of creative for C4 parent Nutrabolt, tells Marketing Daily. “They’re at their best when they’re free to explore their character work.”

The caffeine in question comes courtesy of a can of C4 Ultimate Energy Drink; the talent in the form of current World Heavyweight Champion Seth “Freakin” Rollins, Bianca Belair and the Street Profits tag team of Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins; and the campaign kickoff as part of a product co-branding effort between C4 and WWE.

That co-branding, timed to coincide with WWE’s big SummerSlam event on Aug. 5, consists of two new flavors of Ultimate Energy , and a new formulation and three new flavors of C4 Ultimate Pre-Workout Powder. All five products were launched last week exclusively at GNC.

So why isn’t the product safe for work?  Keying off the high caffeine content -- the equivalent of about three cups of coffee -- the thrust will be “It’s safe for the ring, it’s not safe for work,” Salvatore revealed.

He won’t get specific about plans for Peacock’s Saturday telecast of SummerSlam,  but says the co-branded products will be “everywhere,” teasing, “Talent will be involved, creative will be involved.”

The “Not Safe for Work” campaign itself “will expand beyond WWE,” Salvatore says, with “a plethora of content, different creators and collaborative partners.”

“You’ll see a parallel structure as we expand the platform for where the product is more intended to be used,” he adds, saying that that’s “never sitting at a desk writing emails.”

The campaign will use both its own social channels, which now include Threads, and paid media. Nutrabolt handles its own creative and media buying.

C4 and WWE have had an active partnership since 2021, including sponsorship of both SummerSlam and WrestleMania, but the new products mark the first co-branding between the two.