It isn’t every day that you come across a new traditional marketing technique. Sure, there are variations and advancements, but trying something with a radically new goal doesn’t happen very often, especially by using traditional marketing avenues. It turns out those crazy kids on the Jersey Shore have inspired marketers to instigate the trial of a new marketing practice which hasn’t been tried much before, and to some wouldn’t be considered the nicest strategy.
Recently, Snookie has made a brand switch of sorts. The Jersey Shore “star” who was known for her Coach bags has been seen carrying other brands as of late. Traditionally, one would think that the other brands would have given the “star” product so she could use it in public and spur shoppers to do the same. However, this case is different. It is rumored that handbag companies are giving Snookie gifts of other companies’ bags. Call it product anti-placement, celebrity brand sabotage, or celebrity un-relations; we have Snookie to thank for the new practice.
It’s obvious that although some individuals look up to the Jersey Shore castmember, and would follow her example, it is clear that high fashion wants nothing to do with her. Brands spend decades, and millions upon millions of dollars, to create the perfect set of brand values and to successfully target their ideal market. The last thing they want is one non-targeted individual destroying their hard work.
Generally, high fashion companies battle for years to stand out from their multitude of competitors and create a sophisticated and luxury brand. Unfortunately, sophistication and luxury aren’t words you would use to describe Snookie. It is obvious why these brands aren’t happy with her flaunting their brands. The fear is that Snookie will inspire others (not in their target markets) to adopt their brands. These new adopters will then dilute the brands and the values they have devoted so much time to developing, throwing away the decades of brand building they have engaged in.
Not only does sending Snookie your competitor’s bag take your brand out of her clutches, but it’s creating the same problem for your competitors.
People may feel bad for Snookie, but shouldn’t. First, she is consistently receiving thousands upon thousands of dollars of free stuff. Celebrities go to specific events just to get free stuff. Secondly, the companies aren’t doing this to personally attack Snookie, they’re doing it because her brand values and image don’t align with their companies’ brand values and images. A good example of a good Jersey Shore celebrity/product alignment is “The Situation” and Devotion Vodka. If Snookie paired well with luxury fashion like “The Situation” does with Devotion Vodka, there would be no problem.
The question is: Should other companies engage in this new practice? It’s too early to tell. Will we be seeing Nike, Reebok and Under Armour start dishing out each others’ gear to Mel Gibson, Amy Winehouse, John Gosselin and Spencer Pratt? Who knows. But this is something that brands may start to consider. To have an opportunity to thwart brand dilution as it happens is a situation that marketers rarely get.
We’ve always heard two negatives don’t make a positive–well maybe in this situation it does. If you had control of a major brand, would you experiment in product anti-placement? Let me know in the comments.
Todd Liss lives in sunny (too sunny recently) San Diego and is the founder of TL Marketing. He can be reached at Todd[at]toddliss[dot]com
