It’s another first for the Philippines’ pound-for-pound boxing champion. Though this boxer’s billboards are commonplace in the country, Manny Pacquiao’s Nike AW77 hood sweatshirt billboard also towers over the skies of L.A.
The campaign, photographed by David Sims and styled and directed by Karl Templer includes the Filipino boxer’s billboard located atop the Nike Montalban Theater in Hollywood on Selma Avenue and Pine Street. The Pacman is in a gray and teal blue hoodie, with a trademark athelete’s bitchface (pardon the French). The billboard is located not far from the Wildcard Boxing Gym where the boxer trains in Los Angeles.
What took three months and four cities to produce was launched in October 2009. Nike featured seven athletes to sport the sweatshirt, and from its roster, Pacquiao emerged to join other globally renowned sports figures including Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova for tennis, Alexandre Pato for football, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant for basketball, and Sofia Boutella for gymnastics and dance.
As reported in the Asian Journal, Pacquiao’s billboard generated great interest. The same paper writes, “(Nike) has received positive response from the local Filipino community since the billboard went up.”
The same paper quoted a San Francisco event promoter stating, “for Nike to put Pacquiao’s face on a billboard on a major street speaks highly of the Filipinos buying power… He’s the biggest star in the Philippines and what this billboard shows is not only is Manny like the hugest icon but shows the marketing power of the Filipino community.”
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At the time the billboard went up, Pacquiao was training in Baguio City for a match against Miguel Cotto. In November 14, 2009, Pacquiao won the record-breaking event in 12 rounds at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Pacquiao is currently in the running for a seat in government. His much-awaited match against Floyd Mayweather in 2010 has since been rife with controversy.
