"Blow-Away Guy" Anchors Maxell's New Ad Campaign

Maxell Corporation's classic, black-and-white "blow-away guy" image is the centerpiece of a new multi-million dollar integrated marketing campaign. The "blow-away guy" first came to life in 1979 as advertisement aimed at retailers in trade magazines, but management soon after realized the potential of the image for consumer-directed print and television executions. The key creative decision in the "blow-away" relaunch was to avoid updating the image from its heyday in the 1980s, but to instead, modernize the placement of the image. "We had allowed this icon to become marginalized over the years. But now, when brand is so important in our business, we've decided to leverage this image that tens of millions of people associate with Maxell by putting more energy and investment behind it," says Don Patrican, executive VP of Maxell.