Breaking Out Brands from "Breaking Bad"
Turns out the the pop culture sensation Breaking Bad was quite the playground for brands.A few episodes ago, the show referenced "taking a trip to Belize" as being symbolic of being murdered. The Belize Tourism Board quickly responded with an offer for the entire cast to take a vacation there after the series finale. (btw, I love the brand's logo!)
And then in the last episode, there was made mention of becoming a "manager of a Cinnabon in Omaha," as being symbolic of a witness relocation program. To that, Cinnabon also responded with a tweet of its own ...
But it was an actual manager at a Cinnabon in Omaha who turns out to be the smartest of marketers, when he created a banner to hang outside his store to leverage the high profile brand mention. A good example of an entrepreneur making the most of big brand marketing, and proving that all of this fast-paced marketing action doesn't just happen in social media.I'm finding what we call "newsdrafting" to be such an exciting phenomenon occurring in marketing right now ... when brands respond to what's happening in the news and pop culture, and use it to extend its equity and connect with its audience. It's real time marketing made real time by very clever and creative people.
I recently wrote about brands responding to the government shutdown, which is putting "newsdrafting" at an all time high. While we are mentioning it, United Airlines also got into that game by offering free travel for the Air Force to the Air Force - Navy football game in Annapolis. Love the tie to "we hate cancellations!"
