Sydney Sweeney’s nearly nude ad campaign has been met with backlash — but the stunt could pay off for sports prediction app Novig, an upstart looking to rival giants Kalshi and Polymarket.
The ad campaign shows the “Euphoria” and “The White Lotus” star, bare aside from some strategically placed sports equipment. Sweeney also took an equity stake in Novig, the company said.
The campaign was mocked online by “Saturday Night Live” alum Chloe Fineman and drew a wave of criticism, including from female Olympic athletes who said it sexualized women’s sports.
“I can’t describe how infuriated I feel when I watch this,” wrote Ariarne Titmus, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, on her Instagram story, according to multiple outlets.
Nicky Vita, the head of strategy at advertising agency JOAN London, said the campaign felt “a bit lazy.”
“You’ve used the oldest trick in the book, which is just: ‘Sexy girl talking to men while looking super sexy,'” Vita said.
Still, for little-known Novig, betting on an age-old trope might have worked.
“Think of the audience: it is generally younger men, and sex sells,” said Steve Schonberg, a New York-based marketing consultant.
Novig’s social media mentions spiked more than ninefold after Sweeney’s campaign was released, according to data firm Peak Metrics. Nearly half of the posts about it were neutral, and there were nearly twice as many favorable posts (32.8%) as unfavorable (17.5%). Peak Metrics looked at data from X, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Threads, and Bluesky.
“From an awareness point of view, the fact that people are talking about it days after launch is a good thing,” Vita said. “A few days ago, who even knew about Novig?”
Sweeney has become known for provocative work, both in scripted projects and in the ad world. She raised eyebrows with her “great jeans” ad with American Eagle last summer. Despite online blowback, American Eagle’s CEO said the clothing brand saw “business growth” after its ad campaign with Sweeney. Months later, American Eagle ran a follow-up campaign that alluded to the original.
Can Novig capitalize on a short-term publicity boost?
Novig started in 2021, and this year it closed a $75 million Series B funding round that valued it at $500 million, the company said.
Far more people have heard of Novig now that its logo has appeared next to a mostly nude Sweeney, though there’s a big difference between creating social media buzz and bringing in new customers.
“It will be interesting to see if Novig can translate this big ad moment into sustained interest,” said Jessica Pratt, Peak Metrics’ VP of marketing.
Most of the social media conversation about Novig’s campaign focused on Sweeney, as Peak Metrics found that only 4% of posts were about the sports prediction app itself.
Novig CEO Jacob Fortinsky told Front Office Sports in an interview that the Sweeney campaign was a big bet that made up “the bulk of our marketing dollars going into football season.” Fortinsky didn’t specify how much the company was paying Sweeney or spending on this ad.
One risk: Novig’s marketing stunt could hurt its brand credibility and trust, especially among women.
“There’s a difference between awareness and credibility,” Schonberg said.
That said, Sweeney’s new ad hasn’t caused as much of an uproar as her American Eagle jeans one, which became a flash point in the culture wars. Critics called the ad a racist dog whistle. The brand denied this, and the outsize publicity coincided with a rise in the company’s stock price and earnings.
When risky ads stir up controversy, CMOs should “look at hard facts as opposed to just listening to social media and the mainstream media,” American Eagle CMO Craig Brommers previously told Business Insider.
“I do think that ‘Sydney Sweeney has great jeans’ will be on my marketing gravestone — it is a once-in-a-lifetime campaign,” Brommers said.
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