Branding

Welcome, commercial reader, as this week I reflect on some of the differences in how advertising and branding work here in the US.

Merchandise, it keeps us in line, or so they say. This week my employer rewarded me for something as mundane as filling in a survey by sending me some delightful branded socks:

Advertising and branding is something that is constant and all-pervasive here; much more so than in the UK. If you've ever driven up our local motorway, US-101, you'll have noticed that it's lined by advertisements for all sorts of bizarre stuff; typically technology products.

But perhaps the most obvious difference is in television broadcasting, and in particular sports broadcasting, where every event of significance is sponsored. By "event" I don't mean the entire sporting fixture, I mean specific events which happen in the game. So for instance, at each change in baseball pitcher, we're reminded that when it's time for a change, we should think SpeeDee Oil Change and Auto Tune-up, your trusted oil change partner.

Perhaps my favourite of these little inserts is the voice-over that accompanies the local baseball broadcast returning after the commercial break, where someone advises us that Giants baseball on NBC Bay Area is brought to us by "Toyota: the MVP of MPG!".

I'm sorry to say that Helen struggles a bit with this. I'm pretty sure I've heard her say, "the what of what?", or "the what of MPV?", or "the M...P... what?", or "well what is MVP?". It's an interesting case study which indicates that this type of apparently witty and on-point product placement basically doesn't work.

Merchandise definitely does keep us in line, and I still try pretty hard not to wear branding if I can possibly avoid it. I like Wimbledon and Test cricket, which I guess means I'm a fan of the basic elegance of stuff that is just plain white. Now, I wonder who I could get to change the oil in the car?