Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Should Loyalty Redefined sell out?


I’m looking forward to seeing the new Morgan Spurlock movie Pom Wonderful® Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Unfamiliar with Spurlock? He’s the raconteur behind the funny but frightening documentary Super Size Me, in which the protagonist ate nothing but McDonald’s fast food for a month—which caused him to become fat and physically ill.

This time out Spurlock demonstrates the ubiquity of branding messages in our lives, by literally selling out his new movie. In a series of filmed encounters, Spurlock urges brands to sponsor his movie for a price—and is able to entirely fund the film through product placement and sponsorships, including a cool $1 million from pomegranate juice maker Pom for a spot in the title.

This got me thinking: maybe Loyalty Redefined proprietor Upendra Namburi should sell out this blog site. With so many loyalty programs out there, the possibilities are limitless. Consider: Loyalty Redefined sponsored by Hyatt Gold Passport or American AAdvantage presents Loyalty Redefined or how about i-mint, Loyalty Redefined & You.

After all, we’ve sold out our sports stadiums—from Pizza Hut Park, home of US Major Soccer League’s FC Dallas to the silly KitKat Crescent, home ground of England footballers’ York City, to Easy Credit Stadium, the ridiculous sounding home of German pro soccer team FC Nürnberg.

What’s more, we’re now advertising in virtually every space known to man. This includes the walls and stalls of bathrooms, corporate logo tattoos that turn people into walking advertisements (in one case, for a 20% discount for life), and the latest innovation in advertising space sales—entire homes turned into billboards.

With that backdrop, why shouldn’t Loyalty Redefined sell out as well? I hereby declare myself Updendra’s agent. Bidding starts at US $100K. Any takers?

Creative Director and writer of this post, Tom Rapsas, will be accepting offers at tomrapsas@gmail.com

1 comment:

  1. Hi Tom,
    Open to bids:)
    But concur..
    On a different note, for true customer engagement, I am not in agreement with 'co-branding' strategic elements and properties that are integral to a brand!
    Managing a brand is in itself an arduous and demanding process. However linking it and exposing it to 'risky' positions for future partnerships is a nightmare waiting to happen for certain!
    On a different note, would like to up the initial bid to USD 500 at least! :)

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