David Beckham retires - a look at some of his ads for Brylcreem, Pepsi, Adidas, Sainsbury's, Samsung
As news of David Beckham's retirement from football filters through, The Drum takes a look at some of the international superstar's adverts from over the years, including campaigns for Brylcreem, Pepsi, H&M and Sainsbury's.
Sainsbury's - Active Kids Memories
David Beckham lends his charisma to Sainsbury's annual effort to get children exercising inside their schools. Paralympic hero Ellie Simmonds offers her support too and both contribute to a nostalgia-tinged film designed to gain support from a generation with fond (and not so fond) memories of playing sport at school.
Guy Ritchie's commercial for H & M with David Beckham being stripped to his underwear by an unfortunate series of accidents has been described by the PR wonks as a short film. It's not a short film... it's a commercial but one that many will enjoy if only because the footballer shows off his fine physique.
David Beckham speaks to someone on the advertised phone before launching a football across an empty stadium. A photograph of his colossal kick then spreads across the globe like a rumour on Twitter about Lady Gaga and the whole world is soon talking about Beckham's big shot.
One of the deals that set Brand Beckham into the stratosphere and also made people question David's intelligence when he suddenly chose to shave his blonde locks - d'oh!
Although this is a little irritating in some respects, it's a perfect piece of viral advertising because the presence of Pepsi is so incidental to the action. The online debate surrounded the 'fakeness' of the sequence which allows the branding to slip under the radar.