SEATTLE — T-Mobile’s latest advertising campaign might move so fast you’ll never see it.
The company won an auction to adhere a temporary tattoo on Olympic runner Nick Symmonds’ right shoulder throughout the track and field competition season this year. If Symmonds makes the Olympic team, which is expected, T-Mobile will keep the advertising space during the Rio de Janiero games.
Symmonds auctioned off nine square inches of his skin on eBay this month, promising the winner would get advertising rights in even from May through August. T-Mobile CEO John Legere placed the winning bid of $21,800.
Symmonds’ shoulder will carry a magenta tattoo with a white “T” in the middle, an altered version of the Seattle-area telecom’s logo.
Symmonds, who competed in the Beijing and London Olympics, is a middle-distance runner who also has a contract with Seattle retailer Brooks Running.
The Olympian auctioned off part of his skin before, to marketing agency Hanson Dodge Creative, which paid more than $11,000 to design a temporary tattoo in 2012.
T-Mobile is known for its unusual and often outspoken advertising and promotional campaigns, including its “un-carrier” movements which try to convince people to “break up” with their current carriers and switch to T-Mobile.
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