-By Kamau High

NEW YORK Marc Ecko Enterprises, a client known for its viral videos that blur the line between fiction and reality, today launches a TV and Internet campaign from independent davidandgoliath.
 
Made for Zoo York, one of the Ecko brands, the campaign is comprised of 30- and 60-second TV spots and the zooyork.com/roaches Web site.
 
In the 60-second "Spread the Word," a group of professional skaters and bikers, including Donny Barley, Anthony Shelter and Ruel "Wormz" Smith, spray paint hundreds of cockroaches with the Zoo York logo and then load them into backpacks. They hit the streets on their bikes and boards and head to New York's Wall Street, where they proceed to seemingly throw them on unsuspecting passers-by with predictable results.

"We started looking through past ads and what was on their Web site. This word, unbreakable, kept coming up," said Colin Jeffery, ecd, davidandgoliath, Los Angeles. "What else is unbreakable? The almighty cockroach."

The other spot, "Tough," features talking cockroaches. On zooyork.com/roaches, an uncensored version of "Tough" will be shown.

The campaign will be seen on cable channels such as MTV, Fuel TV and ESPN. One possible extension is Zoo York branded apparel, skateboards and other merchandise that incorporates the cockroaches, said Jeffery.
 
"Spread the Word" is reminiscent of a 2006 campaign by Droga5 for Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, a video game made for Marc Ecko Enterprises. Droga5 made a three-minute Internet video, "Still Free," in which several young men appear to infiltrate the area where Air Force One is parked and spray paint the words "Still Free" on it. An ensuing media firestorm garnered huge amounts of publicity and free plays of the video. The campaign won a Grand Prix Cyber Lion at Cannes.