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Romancing the Stones
Sometimes being in the branding business gets a little surreal. I see certain approaches - and they seem so patently ridiculous - and I wonder, “What are these people thinking? Is anybody home in there?�
Last evening, Wendy and I were at dinner at a wonderful little bistro-bar-wine store hybrid in Ocean City, Maryland. We had just tucked into a little St. Andre, raspberries, and smoked almonds when Wendy remarked, “That’s a strange place to put a brand message - plastered across the crotch.�
I was busy tippling a little zinfandel and thought I’d heard wrong. “What? What did you say?� She repeated her observation and when I looked up at the boxing match on the television screen above the bar, sure enough the words “High Tech Concrete� were emblazoned on the crotch of one of the fighters’ black boxing trunks.
I couldn’t help but get the double entendre here, though the value of “high tech� didn’t compute. I’ll tell you, if there was an intended “brand promise� in the message placement, Wendy didn’t comment. Since she has a particularly keen sense of humor when it comes to things like this, it probably just wasn’t funny. I just thought it was weird.
When it comes to distributing messages, the channel one chooses matters. I really do want someone to help me understand High Tech Concrete’s thinking about their target market. Does anybody over there think that people whose business is purchasing concrete are scanning boxers’ crotches for messages? Maybe I’m naive here. Does this strategy help tilt the balance in the construction competitive bidding process? Does it afford competitive advantage? This isn't like a Quaker State logo at a Nascar event.
I will say this. This brings an entirely new meaning to the notion of “packaging a message.�
If Frederico Fellini were in the branding business, this is something that he might think up. Talk about surreal. It is entertaining - that's for sure.
Posted on July 3, 2007 09:07 AM | Permalink
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Comments
Well, this certainly got my attention when I read it! My first recollection was an episode of "Just Shoot Me" (There wasn't anything else to watch at that moment, all right?), in which a strip poker game was in progress, and a female pokerista said to David Spade's character: "I'll raise your shorts," to which Spade replied,"You couldn't raise my shorts with a crane!"
You're right; it does bring new meaning to the concept of "packaging". But I, too, fall short on the "High Tech" part. Maybe if you look on the back of the boxer's trunks, you might have noticed that Cialis was a sponsor, as well. Now it makes perfect sense!
Hmmm....well it has worked in a sense that we are talking about it (obviously!) and 2) it is kind of funny and maybe someone who might be interested in building and using their hands...would find this very funny and would make a purchase for that reason...plus it was at an event where people are smashing eash other with there fist (don't forget!)...with that perspective...I would say that it makes complete sense!
Anthony
Neill you have captured with savage mastery the sinister secret of marketing executives everywhere- I'm sure that there are scores of indoctrinated individuals across the country who saw the bout as well as the clever marketing fashion and it didn't even register that they it was affixed to the business end of the boxers ram rod! Lovely blog entry:)
Kind regards,
Ian Minton