You gotta love competitive marketing like this. Interns and marketing majors pay attention – this is exactly why you never directly call out your competitor. Checkmate indeed.
Archive for the ‘Branding’ Category
Ends/Wealth
In Branding, Fashion on January 20, 2009 at 11:58An old friend of mine recently started a clothing line called Ends/Wealth and like most it’s started with T-shirts. The designs are good and currently offerings are small, however the marketing behind it is really shaping up. Check out the viral video set to Santogold’s “Shove It” which they shot this past summer in Chicago.
“…Nike by Ralph Lauren.” : Great Brands Reign Supreme.
In Branding, Culture on December 17, 2008 at 18:35“On the street corner, I watched men unloading tablecloths from China and Iranian flip-flops marked “Nike by Ralph Lauren”.
The above quote is from “The Places In Between” by Rory Stewart, a narrative describing his journey in which he walks across Afghanistan in 2002. The quote is part of a description of surroundings the author took in during his last day in Herat before embarking on his adventure. Although this quote serves the purpose of merely adding a splash of paint to the authors picture, it struck me in quite a different manner.
The absurdity of it is only matched by the ignorance and desperation of those who produce and sell the products, the consumers who will purchase them and the strength of the brands themselves. It’s a crazy notion – that in a sweatshop somewhere in Iran workers are toiling away at cheaply-made-knock-offs featuring a mythical collaboration between two American giants while anti-U.S and anti-western protests march in the streets. Then, once produced, somehow they make their way into the cities of Afghanistan.
It seems like in the effort to make a profit all political and possibly even religious ideology goes out the window and brands or products which can be profitable reign supreme, legitimate or not. If nothing else, this example and many like it throughout the third world speak of the prominence of brands, American or not, and the loopholes people are willing to create or utilize in order to be in allegiance with them.
