Bring Terry Tate to Work?

Reebok plans to bring back its successful fictional character Terry Tate in a new ad to support its new football cross-training shoe.

Tate, the “office linebacker” who wreaks havoc on inconsiderate office workers, will appear in a new TV commercial for the July 1 launch of Reebok’s new football shoe, the Scrimmage. The ad features Tate’s off-season training regimen.

Omnicom-owned Arnell Group and Los Angeles-based branded-entertainment company Hypnotic designed the ad. The commercial, directed by Rawson Thurber, encourages fans to go to the Reebok site. There they can to enter a sweepstakes to have Terry Tate come to their office and set things straight. A winner will be chosen randomly on August 31.

The new TV ad and sweepstakes are Reebok’s attempt to extend the life of Tate, whose Super Bowl ad has beem a runaway success this year. Since it aired, Reebok reports 14 million Tate vignettes have been downloaded and nearly a million visitors have come to Reebok.com.

“Ultimately, the idea is to help Reebok rebrand and essentially change its image and create a deeper connection with the consumer through entertainment,” said Andy Marks, executive vice president of brand partnerships at Hypnotic.

In the ads, Tate wears the Scrimmage during his off-season workouts, identifying him with the Reebok brand for the first time. In previous commercials, Tate had not been explicitly linked to a product.

The spots are slated to run on ESPN, FOX Sports, and Comedy Central. The campaign will also include some radio spots.

The Tate commercials have caught the eye of the ad community. This past weekend, Arnell and Hypnotic won the Gold Lion in the apparel/footwear category at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. The award honored the agencies for their work on the Super Bowl spot that launched Tate.

Coming off the success of the online-offline campaign with Tate, Reebok launched an online mystery game featuring four of its NBA sneaker endorsers.