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I am of two minds in even mentioning this product on this blog, to inadvertently give it any added promotion, but it prompts an issue for marketers in general. Las Vegas-based Redux Beverages has launched a loaded energy drink called Cocaine, with the tagline of “The Legal Alternative.� The negative implications are obvious—the president of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse already called on retailers to refuse to sell the “disgusting product� and says the company “should be ashamed of creating and marketing an insidious product.� The product contains a ridiculous amount of caffeine, something like three times that of Red Bull, as well as an ingredient that numbs the throat the way the real thing does, according to the creator. The drink’s website includes links for consumers to find not “retailers� but “dealers.� We can assume the PR boost the product will get because of the public outcry will help turn a quick buck.

So where is that invisible line between what is responsible marketing and promotion and marketing that does a disservice? Glamorizing a drug and a lifestyle will sell products but do marketers bear any responsibility for the messages they send? Is Cocaine’s branding and marketing (it has its own MySpace page and is being distributed at concert stops for Mary J. Blige and Fear Factory) edgy and clever? Or is it lowering the expectations of consumers for marketers in general?

Posted by Allison at 6:04 PM | Permalink

YouTube.com can make a star of anybody—at least for 15 minutes—and today’s marketers are trying to get in on the game. Surely stemming from the success of viral video hits like rock band Ok Go’s treadmill hop (1 million views in 6 days) and the recent phenomenon of Lonelygirl15 (an oddly scripted marketing ploy in and of itself), marketers are experimenting with new ways to get in on the viral video space. After all, YouTube.com counts about 20 million users a month and loads about 6,500 new videos a day.

A curious attempt comes by way of book publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux, which is trying on the YouTube treatment for a memoir, The Mystery Guest, that it recently released, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, along with capital provided by the Literary Ventures Fund, put $10,000 toward the production of a 1-minute, 40-second video that was posted to YouTube in August to coincide with the book’s release to stores. The book release was also supported with the usual advance copies to critics and press releases.

The film looks like a movie trailer, replete with opening credits (featuring the publishing house and book title) voice-over, critics' one-liners, and is shot in black-and-white. It has gotten about 2,000 hits in about three weeks. Not exactly wildfire, but not insignificant either. It may just be a new way to reach an audience that is increasingly skeptical of the messages it is sent via traditional media channels.

Posted by Allison at 8:27 PM | Permalink