Digex Grabs Shaquille O'Neal as Spokesman

Web hosting firm Digex Inc. on Monday said it had drafted basketball star Shaquille O’Neal to help it spread the word about its services to potential business customers.

The ads, designed by the Benchmark Group, juxtapose a picture of “Shaq” wearing a Digex jersey against an image of youngsters in a pickup basketball team, encouraging readers to “Pick the dominant force. Digex.”

The new campaign will first appear on Tuesday in the Wall Street Journal, in outdoor ads in the San Francisco Bay area, and as a sponsor at ASPCON, an ASP technology convention.

In the next few weeks, the company will place ads in technology trade and business publications, including Internet Week, InfoWorld, ComputerWorld, Business Week, Forbes and Fortune. Outdoor ads will also appear in New York City and around Silicon Valley.

“Shaquille O’Neal personifies superior performance, strength, reliability and integrity, qualities that keep him at the top of his game,” said Rebecca Ward, president, marketing, product management and engineering for Digex.

“This campaign leverages Shaq’s wide range of appeal and recognition as one of the all-time great players to get across the message that Digex is setting the pace for this industry.”

Spending for the campaign wasn’t disclosed.