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Kenny Powers Becomes CEO of K-Swiss, Launches Viral Ad Campaign

California-based footwear makers K-Swiss have just debuted a bold new viral advertising campaign this weekend starring Danny McBride in his role as Eastbound & Down‘s Kenny Powers. Verdict: ...
Kenny Powers Becomes CEO of K-Swiss, Launches Viral Ad Campaign
Written by Josh Wolford
  • California-based footwear makers K-Swiss have just debuted a bold new viral advertising campaign this weekend starring Danny McBride in his role as Eastbound & Down‘s Kenny Powers. Verdict: The foul-mouthed baseball player makes one hell of a spokesman.

    Here’s the basic concept of the ad campaign: Kenny Powers has taken over (in a hostile fashion) K-Swiss and become their new CEO. Why did he do this? In order to change the sports world and stop people from acting like “goddamn pussies” all the time, according to him. To fulfill this goal, he has hired some top athletes to help him run the company.

    It looks like K-Swiss has launched this viral campaign to promote their new shoe called “Tubes” or as Kenny Powers calls them Totally Unbelievably Badass (and) Extremely Stealth-like. They have taken a multi=platform approach, taking to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to promote their new product.

    On their YouTube Channel, K-Swiss has released a series of videos that show what Kenny Powers is doing as their new CEO. With the help of people like Michael Bay, The Biggest Loser‘s Jillian Michaels, and KC Chiefs QB Matt Cassel, the results are some of the best commercials I’ve seen in quite some time. This longest of the commercials contains components from most of the shorter ones. It is NSFW, as you would expect a Kenny Powers commercial to be, and just shows what companies can get away with on YouTube that they could never do on TV. Check it out –

    [UPDATE: The original video I had embedded here has been removed by the user (K-Swiss Inc.), about 3 minutes after I put up this article. It contained quite a bit of foul language. Here’s another video from the ad campaign, which is free of bad language]

    [UPDATE 2: Here is the original video, entitled “MFCEO,” uploaded by a user that’s not affiliated with K-Swiss. So, enjoy – it may be removed at any time.]

    K-Swiss announced their new campaign via Twitter on Friday, saying that Powers had taken over and linking to their Facebook page.

    Kenny Powers has taken over @KSWISS as the new CEO! Things will never be the same. #ImTheCEO

    http://on.fb.me/oQqWFO 2 days ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    They began two new hashtags: #ImTheCEO and #WhenKennyPowersIsYourBoss. The latter actually started trending over the weekend, probably thanks to its adoption by the popular fake-account of Kenny Powers, @KFUCKINGP. That account has almost 300,000 followers on Twitter.

    Got rid of @KSWISS‘ “Employee of the Month,” because when #ImTheCEO, I am THE damn employee of EVERY damn month. http://on.fb.me/oQqWFO 23 hours ago via HootSuite · powered by @socialditto

    KENNY POWERS IS FUCKING BACK…
    As @KSWISS‘ new CEO! I’ve taken over and nobody is fucking safe. #ImTheCEO http://t.co/rX61oNt 2 days ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

    #WhenKennyPowersIsYourBoss sexual harrassment is not frowned upon, it’s part of the job requirements. @KFUCKINGP 19 hours ago via Twitter for Android · powered by @socialditto

    That account is explicitly “not affiliated with HBO or Eastbound and Down,” but you have to think that K-Swiss reached out to them when this viral campaign began. Not only does it get involved in the hashtags and humor of the thing, but @KFUCKINGP links to K-Swiss’ Facebook pages on multiple occasions.

    That aforementioned Facebook promotion looks something like this –

    K-SWISSWe’re still trying to figure out why our new CEO Kenny Powers is paying all K-SWISS employees in $1 dollar bills.

    Besides providing for a ridiculously awesome viral video, do you think this is a good viral campaign by K-Swiss? Let us know how you feel.

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