• by Tom Siebert , November 24, 2006

Carmelo Anthony, the only basketball player besides eponymous icon Michael to have a signature shoe in the Jordan line of Nike sneakers, is the multimedia star of a new integrated marketing campaign to promote the Melo M3 line of athletic footwear. The campaign includes traditional and online advertising, as well as several events. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The campaign for the athletic shoes, which carry a retail price of $115, comes from the New York office of Wieden+Kennedy. It highlights the charismatic All-Star, member of the 2004 USA Olympic basketball team and captain of the current Team USA. His carefully cultivated image also makes the rounds of the late-night talk shows and MTV series "Punk'd" and "Cribs." But most importantly for sports fans, he has turned the perennial second-rate Nuggets into a playoff team.

The integrated campaign promotes the introduction of the third shoe in the Melo collection, the M3, which hits stores today. The shoe features several "customized" Carmelo elements, including his birth name "Kiyan Iriate" at the medial forefoot, Baltimore area code (410) on the back of the shoe, his Denver Nuggets number (15) on the toe, and a thumbprint inside the shoe designed with words that represent who he is, such as "power" and "respect."

The television portion of the campaign broke last Wednesday night during BET's Hip Hop Awards and mirrors the print ads, which have been running in sports, urban and men's leisure publications like Slam, Dime, ESPN the Magazine, and XXL.

The online portion of the campaign follows a similar route. Leading up to launch day, exclusive trailers teasing the M3 launch are available via iTunes' video podcast channels and other sources on the Web, including Jordan's own Jumpman23.com. Consumers are invited to create their own original Melo video tributes and post them on popular video sites like YouTube.