Jeremy Lin is the newest brand endorser of watch company TAG Heuer and he recently appeared in a commercial with other popular faces.
USA Today featured a video of the ad showing Jeremy Lin, tennis superstar Maria Sharapova and soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo.
At the beginning of the commercial, Lin walks into a dark basketball court and approached a giant multi-touch pad. On the pad appeared the statement, "Welcome Jeremy to the TAG Heuer #DontCrackUnderPressure Challenge".Then, Sharapova appeared on the pad display to give him a number of challenges.
Maria's first challenge for Lin was to play basketball using a tennis ball. The gray screen with the statement appeared, saying, "Challenge 1: Score a basket with a tennis ball". Lin obliged then proceeded to attempt several times to shoot the tennis ball using a racquet. After so many tries, a tired Lin exclaimed that he is going to leave the tennis with Maria then shot the ball straight from his hand.
The next scene featured Cristiano Ronaldo taking Lin to the second challenge. The gray screen appeared stating, "Challenge 2: Show off your football skills". Lin did a number of tricks with a soccer ball using his feet, then flipped the ball to his hands to land a jump shot.
The final challenge was brought by company CEO Jean-Claude Viver. The gray screen featured the challenge, "Challenge 3: Match TAG Heuer movements with their parts." Lin proceeded to toggle on the pad to accomplish the matchmaking challenge, with Viver encouraging him throughout the process.
Viver concluded by congratulating Lin, saying that he is the kind of person that does not crack under pressure. Biver said, "Welcome aboard! You are a member of the TAG Heuer family!"
The same report by USA Today described the advertisement as "awkward." It seemed as if the advertisement was not well done and that the parts were simply put together to create a commercial. It was confusing why Lin had to accomplish the challenges to earn a special edition watch that Viver already made for him and will most likely give to him whether he finishes the tasks or not. Furthermore, Lin also failed the first challenge. He technically failed the second challenge too because he scored a basket with his hands and not his feet. The third challenge was very difficult to comprehend or determine how Lin was able to match everything on time.
Considering the star power of the ad, TAG Heuer has done better in the past.