McAfee.com Targets Time Magazine Readers with Mousepads
The virus protection software company takes an unusual route togetting its brand in front of PC users.
Virus protection and PC management software firm McAfee.com on Monday launched an unusual advertising effort that places branded mouse pads in 4.1 million issues of Time Magazine.
Time Magazine and McAfee.com’s ad agency, 120 Advertising, first presented the idea in late 1999, but the production and design of the mouse pads presented significant technical obstacles.
Although dot-com companies, and others, have long used mouse pads as branding vehicles, this is the first time a firm has inserted one into a multi-million subscription consumer publication.
The designers of the mouse pads incorporated McAfee.com corporate branding, and tried to make them visually captivating by using colorful imagery.
“With the potential to reach 4.1 million mainstream readers, and place our message in front of them while actually using their computers,” said Katie Wagner, account supervisor at 120 Advertising, “the mouse pads speak to our broader target of ‘all PC users’ at a time when security is front of mind.”
