T-Mobile won an eBay auction to adhere a temporary tattoo on runner Nick Symmonds’ shoulder during the 2016 season.
T-Mobile’s latest advertising campaign might move so fast that you’ll never see it.
The company won an auction to adhere a temporary tattoo to Olympic runner Nick Symmonds’ right shoulder throughout the track and field competition season this year. If Symmonds makes the Olympic team, which is expected, T-Mobile will keep the advertising space during the Rio de Janeiro games.
Symmonds auctioned off 9 square inches of his skin on eBay this month, promising the winner would get advertising rights in events from May through August. T-Mobile CEO John Legere placed the winning bid: $21,800.
Symmonds’ shoulder will carry a magenta tattoo with a white “T” in the middle, an altered version of the Bellevue telecom’s logo.
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Symmonds, who competed in the Beijing and London Olympics, is a middle-distance runner who also has a contract with Seattle retailer Brooks Running.
The Olympian has auctioned off part of his skin before, to marketing agency Hanson Dodge Creative, which paid more than $11,000 to design a temporary tattoo in 2012.
T-Mobile is known for its unusual and often outspoken promotional campaigns, including its “un-carrier” movement, which tries to persuade people to “break up” with their current carriers and switch to T-Mobile.