Beauty and the Brewer

Brookfield - In his young career as an all-star leftfielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, Ryan Braun has stared down the likes of opposing pitchers Johan Santana and Brandon Webb.

On a sun-dappled Friday on the baseball field behind Brookfield East High School, Braun took on what even he admitted beforehand might be a more daunting task: trading lines with supermodel and magazine cover girl Marisa Miller in a viral video for a new Remington men’s hair-care product.

“Aren’t you baseball all-star Ryan Braun?” Miller said to Braun as cameras rolled and a large crowd of technicians, actors, aides, associates, gofers, spectators and hangers-on stood by quietly from a safe distance.

“Aren’t you supermodel Marisa Miller?” Braun answered smartly as he stood next to a fence holding the leash on his dog.

“Not bad for a first take,” yelled director Adam Rifkin of Los Angeles. “Let’s do it again.”

Which is exactly what Braun and Miller did. Over and over.

Credit Braun with a ringing double off the wall in his acting debut pitching Remington’s ShortCut clipper, which is being promoted as an error-free way to give yourself a haircut.

Braun is the spokesman for the product and signed a partnership with Remington. The video is his first film effort.

You won’t find the ad on commercial television. This being the Age of the Internet, and with a product that zeros in on the demographic represented by the 24-year-old Braun, this viral video will debut on YouTube in the fall.

The company has hopes of getting 1 million unique visitors to watch the video and, company officials hope, link to the product’s Web site to learn more.

Glenn Rhodes, a Remington marketing director based in Madison, where Remington has its North American operations, said the whole idea was to market to men where they hang out.

“That’s where they’re at,” Rhodes said of the online world. “We want to take advantage of that.”

Remington has had success with viral video in England, but the Braun-Miller video is their first in the United States.

Remington, it seems, has done its homework. They were looking for a young superstar to promote the ShortCut and gravitated toward Major League Baseball. At the same time, they test-marketed the ShortCut in clubhouses and found ballplayers liked it.

According to Remington, the ShortCut allows men to cut their hair with no worries of turning a head full of hair into a very bad haircut day. And, with Braun’s help, they determined that as many as 30% of all major leaguers cut their own hair.

With that kind of synergy, Remington signed Braun.

While happy with the reigning Rookie of the Year, Remington decided to take the product promotion further. The next stop was Miller, who was the cover girl of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, recently was on the cover of Maxim, and models for Victoria’s Secret.

With Miller supplying the sex appeal, Remington had plenty of star power to market its product.

“They are two up-and-coming superstars and they are good for our brand,” Rhodes said.

An hour or so before he was needed, Braun said he was excited about the opportunity.

“I’ve played baseball my whole life,” said Braun. “That’s kind of my comfort zone. I feel comfortable in this environment and this atmosphere. I’m not anticipating too much difficulty. But I’m sure it won’t be too easy.”

Braun said the world of endorsements and marketing interested him. “I grew up in Los Angeles and went to college in Miami,” Braun said. “My production on the field is first and foremost. But the more success you have gives you more opportunities off the field. I always envisioned myself doing something like this.”

Under nearly perfect conditions, the shooting of the video went well. The story line involves a softball tournament.

When a loose ball got to the fence, it was Miller, in a pink top, black shorts and black tennis shoes, chasing it down. Waiting in the outfield with ball in hand was Braun, dressed in an Affliction T-shirt and designer jeans, with his dog.

“Shouldn’t you be in a bikini on a beach?” Braun asks Miller.

“Shouldn’t you be signing some kid’s ball?” Miller responds.

Braun said his Brewers teammates knew about his appearance with Miller.

“I told everybody. They ribbed me some. But they are supportive. They know it’s all fun.”

(jsonline.com)