Quick sports quiz: Who won golf’s U.S. Open Championship last June?
A: Not Tiger Woods. No, Angel Cabrera of Argentina was the victor at Oakmont Country Club outside Pittsburgh, PA.
What golf brand logo did Cabrera wear on his cap, the most valued of sponsorship spots?
Ping not Nike.
So did Ping get its money’s worth? Surely. But so did [...]
An admission: I like the Coen Brothers. Their work is offbeat enough to give you pause. Weird, yet surreal. It’s the only way to explain why they shot scenes in No Country for Old Men that highlight the hood ornament of an SUV more than 20 years old: the Dodge Ramcharger.
Would the Dodge marketing people want a murderous sociopath as a selling message?
Placing products and brand [...]
Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Nike is both.
Consider this past weekend’s bounty:
Relentless ad rotations of the new Sparq (association in part with Velocity Sports Performance Centers) that create buzz without ever showing the gear.
Prominent Nike swoosh placement on the winner’s yellow jersey at the Paris-Nice professional bike race, even though Nike is not marketing 2008 cycling shoes or [...]
If you drive a Corvette and play TaylorMade Tour Preferred (TP) golf clubs you may have a deja vu moment when popping the back lid of your sports car.
It’s the brand badges. They have similarities.
Fast cars and golf clubs. What do they share in common?
Although the TaylorMade TP logo is much closer to the original [...]
Oakley, the premium athletic sunglass and eye protection brand, has rolled out print ads that stretch beyond tradition. This one features a goggle called the “Crowbar” and includes a wrestling scene with snowboarder Eero Ettala.
Does it feel extreme to you? I suppose.
But any photograhic stills from this video would do just as well — or [...]
Zappos Shoes has come up with one of the better ads I’ve seen in awhile. And it’s so smart, you have to wonder why it wasn’t done sooner since we’ve been living in an airport security checkpoint world since 9.11.2001.
Inside the security screening trays at San Diego International Airport, there’s a very simple message and colorful visual: PLACE SHOES HERE. [...]
Here’s what you get when you mix a soccer penalty and European pasta company excited about the World Cyling Championships. The freebie campaign would have been spot-on if red cards were part of professional cycling.
While cyclists are known for their carbo consumption, they’re not red-carded for doping violations. The German-based pasta company is red. There’s the color connection.
Drinking Coke used to be so simple. Open a can, slug it back and burp. Not anymore. The company today launched its virtual Coke world called CC Metro. It’s for people who want to create an Avatar and hang out with other Avatars on an island-shaped Coke bottle. Coke hopes the humans behind the virtual [...]
At first glance, the Amazon Kindle looks like a modern Etch A Sketch in eggshell white with keyboard and wireless features. Kinda ugly yet neat. But the product’s name, value proposition and target audience elude me.
First, the name: Kindle? As in to ignite? Imagine a Kindle product launch after the holiday shopping season. Any spark? [...]
It took longer than predicted, but availability for portable digital music devices from Slacker was announced this week in advance of Black Friday, the largest U.S. consumer spending day of the year. Slacker said it’s taking online pre-orders for players that will ship in mid-December. But no retail sales yet where a hands-on experience is [...]
