We love a good brand partnership but we think there’s a limit to how many brands should be smacked together at the same time. Try to follow this. There’s this thing called ESPN The Truck. It’s a 53 foot interactive television sportscenter on wheels letting people experience ESPN HD, play video games, download programs and get their picture of the cover of ESPN Magazine. All good. ESPN got together with Comcast Spotlight’s Chicago ad sales team to take the truck to Subway restaurants in Bolingbrook, IL for a day. All good. A cable sales team capitalizes on its cable carrier for local exposure and Subway gets in on the exposure too. Not done yet. ESPN The Truck can’t just stand on its own brand. It has to have two more brands sponsoring it so now we throw in Mazda and SIRIUS for good measure. On one hand, this is great marketing in terms of co-branding and amortizing costs across several interested parties. On the other hand, its a brand onslaught the consumer has to digest and interpret. OK, so it’s really not all that confusing but what’s easier – remembering one brand or five?
