Happy Mother’s Day! So, it’s time again to talk a little fishing billboard branding, I guess.
We have enjoyed discussing Rapala billboard ads over the last couple of years, the “attracting cats” billboard, the “More hits than Google” billboard, the “Whudjagiddumon” billboard, and now the “Do you believe in
Someone who is in the business of repairing Volvo brand automobiles has the right to say so, in advertising, and elsewhere — without obtaining advance permission from Volvo — provided consumers aren’t likely to understand the advertisement or communication to mean that the repair services and/or the business providing them is authorized by, affiliated with, or otherwise connected to
Rapala’s brand new Whudjagiddumon? billboard ads are now appearing in the Twin Cities metro area, just in time for Mother’s Day:
Last Summer Rapala ran billboard ads featuring the controversial tagline: More Hits Than Google:
.jpg)
So, what is Whudjagiddumon?
Here is my proposed entry for Webster’s Dictionary:
Whud-ja-giddum-on [whatcha-giddem-on]
–noun
I have asked the question before about the Google brand appearing in a Rapala billboard ad, here.
I have asked it when 3M’s Post-It note appeared in an Accountemps billboard ad, here and here.
Now I’m asking it again with a different brand and a different billboard ad: Does Morrie’s Automotive Group’s use of
by James Mahoney, Creative director/writer at Razor’s Edge Communications
Okay, so I’ve read a lot of whining and agita about how marketers continually drive trademark attorneys to distraction with un-trademarkable names. And how advertisers drive those same attorneys to that same distraction with potential trademark infringements.
It’s time to let you in on a dirty little secret: we don’t care about trademark stuff. At least not a lot of the time.
Now before you break out the smelling salts, or the torts (aren’t they little tasty cakes, by the way?) or something to stop your palpitating hearts, let me explain a little further.
For big stuff, like our own trademarks or ones we think will really get us into trouble if we violate, then we do pay attention and we do care. Ditto for new things we come up with that we think will have some durability. That’s a key distinction here, folks: things we think will have some durability. Relatively speaking, there aren’t many of them—product names, for example, deserve attention.
For everything else we do, we pretty much know that the Smithsonian isn’t going to be calling us to enshrine the original. We’re also pretty sure that most of the stuff we come up with will live slightly longer than a tsetse fly only if we’re lucky.
That’s why we’re so cavalier about trademarks. Other than observing the big-picture rules (most of the time), we hit the threshold of diminishing return on trademark-related effort very quickly. It’s just not that valuable a use of our time.Continue Reading Why Marketers Don’t Give Two Hoots about Trademark Concerns‚Ñ¢
Finally, here is a photo of Rapala’s “More Hits Than Google” billboard ad discussed previously in my Monday post entitled: “Rapala Fishing Lures: More Hits Than Google? Or, More Cats Than You Can Shake a Stick At? ” Sorry for the delay folks.
Anyone notice the exceedingly small print located in the lower right corner of the billboard ad?
OK, leaving your microscopes at the lab, three guesses what it reads:Continue Reading Rapala’s “More Hits Than Google” Billboard Update (Photo Included)
Rapala, the world’s largest manufacturer of fishing lures has pleasured us with some pretty clever and creative advertisements over the years, a lot of them award-winning ads too. For example, Carmichael Lynch created the above billboard ad that over time gradually “attracted cats” to the billboard featuring a super-sized Rapala minnow fishing lure. Lots of cats, in fact, many more than you can shake a stick at, you might say, if you fancy idioms and don’t happen to be fond of those feline types. Carmichael Lynch notes: “With simplicity and humor, we’ve helped the [Rapala] brand connect with its enthusiast audience and grow to be the undisputed market leader for fishing lures.” This is simply delicious creativity.
More recently, however, the undisputed market leader for fishing lures is now using the brand name of the undisputed market leader for Internet search engines in Rapala billboard advertising, apparently to continue growing Rapala’s fishing lure business. Although there are Twitter tweets and other mentions on the web referring to this new Rapala billboard ad, I haven’t been able to locate an online image yet, so I’ll have to take a picture of the one I have seen myself and post it here when I can. In the meantime, just picture the above billboard minus the cats (and minnow lure) and with this slogan in large prominent black type above the red Rapala logo: “More Hits Than Google“. Is this new Rapala billboard ad one of the award-winning variety?Continue Reading Rapala Fishing Lures: More Hits Than Google? Or, More Cats Than You Can Shake a Stick At?