Impossible Is Nothing

Gilbert Arenas is one of the most marketable sports personalities currently playing a professional sport in the United States. That says a lot, considering he wore the number 0 originally at Arizona because he was told that he would never get any playing time. He continues to wear the number to spite his former doubters.

The guy has an amazing, outgoing personality, he is part of the elite group of athlete bloggers, and is a stud on the basketball court. It was just a matter of time before a shoe company decided to make him the staple of an exciting new venture.

That being said, I was not all that surprised to receive a press release from Kari Cruz at the adidas Public Relations department concerning their new venture with Arenas:

For Release Wednesday, November 21, 2007 – adidas and NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas announced today the launch of www.gilTV.com, an innovative look into Gilbert and the Team Signature Lightswitch Gil II Zero collection. Gilbert and the adidas REMIX division collaborated on all twenty unique, limited edition shoes and each will debut during the 2007-08 NBA season.

As the official website, www.gilTV.com will be the key destination for consumers and fans to have an all-access look into the world of Gilbert and the Team Signature Gil II Zero collection. Four entertaining and engaging web vignettes feature Gilbert in some of his most famous characters – Agent Zero, Black President, Cuba and Hibachi. Also on the site will be each shoe in the collection, but each shoe will only by visible on the day Gilbert wears it on court.

Here’s an advanced look at the Gil TV videos:

http://clients.evb.com/adidas/gil20/Final_Episodes/

user name: adidas

password: xlsh03s

Gilbert will debut the Team Signature Lightswitch Gil II Zero x Cust0mize on Friday, November 23^rd versus the Golden State Warriors. Cust0mize was inspired by Gilbert’s personal “Impossible is Nothing” story and allows consumers to personalize their shoes with their stories. The Cust0mize shoe has a white re-writable upper and retails with a Dry Erase marker. It retails for $90.

Additional collaborations include great brands such as EA Sports, Benihana “Hibachi,” Halo, Looney Tunes (two kids versions), SLAM Magazine, ThreeZero and UNDRCRWN.

Below please find a schedule of when Gilbert will debut each of the shoes:

Game / Retail Launch	Versus	Shoe
Pre-season Event	DC / Foundation Kickoff	Scores for Schools
November 23	Various Games	Away Version
November 23	Various Games	Home Version
November 23	Warriors	Cust0mize
December 5	Cavaliers	Agent Zero
December 7	Suns	Vote for Gilbert
December 13	Heat	EA Sports NBA Live ‘08
December 29	Heat	DC Football
February 8	Nuggets	Halo
February 10	Suns	Black President
February 11	Warriors	Looney Tunes “Bugs”
February 13	Clippers	Looney Tunes “Tweety”
March 11	Rockets	THREE ZERO
March 13	Heat	SLAM
March 21	Heat	Cuba
March 23	Pistons	Benihana “Hibachi”
March 25	Blazers	Channel Zero
March 30	Lakers	Gilwood
April 4	Heat	UNDRCRWN

The Team Signature Lightswitch Gil II Zero collection is broken down into three divisions – Underground, Elite and Preferred. The retail availability will mirror this strategy with the top tier/UNDRGROUND collection consisting of extremely limited editions exclusive to trend retailers and specialty urban doors. The Elite and Preferred collections will be available at larger retail doors. Price points for the collection range from $90 – $120. Specific retail information related to each shoe is available upon request.

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adidas, if you are reading this, I would like a pair of your choice in exchange for posting this press release. I honestly think this campaign is going to be immensely successful. Size 10 1/2 should do. Thanks.

-Darren Heitner