Hot Young Athletes to Do K-Swiss TV Ads

K-Swiss, a tennis-shoe company based in Westlake Village, will feature four up-and-coming athletes in its spring television campaign.

Each athlete will be spotlighted in a 30-second commercial that focuses on how he or she trains to be the best. Houston, Helm, Fattal and Collins of Marina del Rey created the campaign.

The athletes are Gabe Kapler, 1998 Minor League Baseball Player of the Year, who is at the Detroit Tiger’s spring training camp; Luke Smith, the 1997 NCAA men’s singles and doubles tennis champion from the University of Nevada at Las Vegas; Kristin Schritter, a professional beach volleyball player, who is training for the USA Olympic Beach Volleyball Team; and Oba Carr, a top-ranked boxer who is training for his fight in May with Oscar de La Hoya.

The television commercials will run on ESPN, ESPN2, Fox Sports Network and MTV. K-Swiss is spending $17 million on the television campaign for 1999, which represents a substantial increase in the company’s advertising spending.

In conjunction with the advertising campaign, the K-Swiss Web site includes images of the four athletes and offers visitors ways to check out statistical and biographical information on them.