N.Y. Red Bulls Get in the Game

NEW YORK He takes the shot, and the soccer ball surges forward, unrelenting in its quest for the net. You'd almost believe there's an outside force guiding the ball toward its destination. If you take a closer look, you'd see there is: It's the spirit of the Red Bull.

That description encapsulates Red Bull's first image campaign promoting its New York Red Bulls Major League Soccer franchise (which it acquired in 2006).

"The Power of the Bulls" integrated marketing campaign that officially kicked off this week, and it includes three 60-by-100-foot wallscapes displayed around the New York Metropolitan area. (The energy drink company's in-house agency in Austria fashioned the ads.)

Shot by fashion photographer Oliver Gast, the wallscapes feature images of Bulls' players Jozy Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel in action.

In addition to the Out Of Home medium, the campaign's print component will also appear in local English and Spanish-language newspapers. Online, it will appear on yahoo.com, nytimes.com. nj.com, foxsports.com, si.com as well as newyorkredbulls.com.

The rep declined to disclose the ad spend, saying only "that for the new York-based teams, this is a pretty significant spend in the marketplace."

The campaign will run through the end of April. The Red Bulls season begins on April 5.