The Ultimate Fist Pumping Machine

January 12, 2011 • 7:57 pm • POSTED BY David Burden

Its no secret that a small agency contingent has watched MTV’s Jersey Shore with morbid fascination since the beginning. Our fixation has manifested itself beyond water cooler conversation: blog posts have been written, names have been entered in the Jersey Shore name generator, a Situation talking bobble head is bobbling (and rambling) away on my desk right now alongside Sparty and The Wilkes Colonel, and we even developed a TV spot for our client De’Longhi to run during the season one finale (De’Longhi ultimately demurred). Perhaps this is because many of us have northern New Jersey roots and have shared much of the same sand and surf as the cast members. And we are not alone in our viewership, as ratings continue to skyrocket; The show’s third season premiered on January 6, 2011 to record ratings, making it MTV’s most viewed series telecast EVER.

One of the (many) things that jumped out at me during this premiere was the choice of vehicles among the cast. For while it appears most of them still live at home, their rides include a Range Rover, a Cadillac and two BMWs.  Which begs the question:  How do the marketers at these luxury car makers, most notably BMW, feel about theirs being the brand of choice for the likes of Ronnie and Snooki?

Luxury and specialty brands often run the risk of becoming “too” popular, or even worse co-opted by an audience outside of their intended demographic.  Its safe to say that Miuccia Prada never envisioned her name on the backpack mean girls everywhere.  One must wonder if Christian Louboutin is laughing all the way to the bank while the bridge and tunnel moms gone wild dance the night away in his trademark red soled heels, or plays the role of Hamlet in pondering the future of his brand.  Cristal Champagne managing director Frederic Rouzaud commented to The Economist that the shout-outs rappers give to his company’s beverage in their music are “unwelcome.”  Jay Z returned fire “It has come to my attention that the managing director of Cristal views the ‘hip-hop’ culture as ‘unwelcome attention’ … I view his comments as racist and will no longer support any of his products through any of my various brands including the 40/40 Club nor in my personal life.” Jay has also asked the hip hop community to support him in boycotting the pricey beverage.

In Chasing Cool by Noah Kerner and Gene Pressman, the authors illustrate in detail how Ralph Lauren has been able to maintain relevance in the retail clothing industry by staying true to the brand’s vision, while Tommy Hilfiger, by chasing market trends and courting the urban demographic, lost brand value and, subsequently, relevance.  Hilfiger has staged a masterful return to form, battered and bruised nonetheless. In the trend spotter user manual The Tipping Point, author Malcom Gladwell explains similar meteoric rise and near cataclysmic fall of shoe brands  Airwalk and Hush Puppies. Airwalk’s former president Lee Smith opined “We had this little jewel of a brand and little by little we sold it off to the mainstream” (Note along the way somebody got quite rich, as the brand was packaged and sold for $200 million at its peak of viability).

My first real client (circa 1995-1999) was Michel Roux, the mercurial President of Carillon Importers and steward of the Stolichnaya Vodka and Bombay Sapphire Gin brands. In the 80’s and 90’s Monsieur Roux held exclusive distribution rights to Absolut Vodka and was one of the visionaries behind the brand’s iconic ad campaign. As legend has it, he once paid $100 a slovenly gentleman in an airport to remove his Absolut T-shirt .  Roux famously quipped in his outrageously appropriate French accent: “We moost protect zees brand.”

Its clear that many luxury and specialty brands ultimately pay a heavy price for their 15 minutes of fame, whether the masses move on or the niche ultimately turns when the brand asserts its true intentions in defense of the crown.  Some brands eschew trends altogether: “I love looking at trend reports because then I know exactly what I shouldn’t be doing,” declares John Demsey, group president, Estee Lauder, MAC Cosmetics, Prescriptives, Sean John, and Tom Ford Beauty

In BMW’s case, the options may be few.  Perhaps two Lexus, supersized red bow and all, magically arrive in Ron and Snook’s driveways in the hopes they turn in their leases.  Though it might be too late: At a dinner party I attended this weekend at an upscale Italian restaurant called GoodFellas in Garfield, NJ, the parking lot held of 18 cars…11 were BMWs.