Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

Stay with me here - this starts out rather silly. There is now an Ed McMahon premium vodka (yes, of Tonight show, sweepstakes and wheelchair pitchman fame), which Seth Godin thinks would be perfect to drink while wearing his Donald Trump watch. Personally, I’m thinking I could do both while sitting on my Earnest Hemingway “Moulin Rouge” floral sofa. Now, I don’t know if there really is a Donald Trump watch (if there isn’t, it’s just because he’s not thought of it yet.) But, such things lead to thinking about brands, positioning, and targets.

No, I don’t have a Hemingway sofa - but the commercials for that furniture line always make me chuckle. Some nice pieces, but in real life, the man was known for being decidely inelegant, grubby and just downright smelly. And now, he’s a symbol for classic style. Alrighty then. How many people even really know who Hemingway was? And, if they do (like me), they may find the marketing of the furniture - shall we say - less than compelling.

Ed McMahon? Didn’t Johnny used to give him a hard time for being a little too fond of booze? Drunks and drinking ceased being generally funny a long time ago. I’m sure Mr. McMahon is a nice guy in real life and a responsible citizen. However, how does his image translate to the selling of premium vodka? What’s the target market? The people who buy wheelchairs? The young hipsters? (It’s just uncool enough to be cool…for about a nanosecond.)

And we marketers wonder why we don’t get no respect…