Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo makes his way out onto the ice for the pre game skate before the start of the first period.JOHN LEHMANN
Go, Canucks! Yes, we should add another "Go" to that cheer, but we lopped it off just to be safe after hearing about Vancouver's Kingsway Honda, which was ruled offside when the car dealership put that expression of support on its front window last month. After the NHL wagged its finger over infringement of sponsorship rights, the dealership took it down, but now they've received another letter from the league about a Civic sitting in its showroom covered in Canucks logos. Doug Lum, Kingsway's GM, told us it's not about marketing; he's just showing his support, as are all the other Vancouver businesses doing the same. "Let's say they send 1,000 letters to those business," he said. "Wouldn't that be 1,000 times silly?"
Hot Wheels longings
We don't know about that, but we do from silly, and last weekend one very silly man made some awesome sports history. Before the Indianapolis 500 race, spectators witnessed a stunt driver in a life-sized Hot Wheels car break the world record for a distance jump in a four-wheeled vehicle: dropping down a 30-metre-high ramp, speeding along a bright orange track, and then jumping more than 100 metres. It's all part of marketing efforts aimed at onetime fans of the toys: that is, young men aged 18-34. Simon Waldron, the VP of marketing for Hot Wheels, told the New York Times that the company hadn't "served up a good enough reason for them to re-engage with the brand." Because apparently there aren't enough reasons for young men to not grow up.
Batman in the long run
Besides, we already know where most of those young men are going to be on July 20, 2012: at the opening night showings of The Dark Knight Rises, the sequel to the blockbuster Batman prequel. When the film's website launched recently with nothing on it but an odd rhythmic chant, someone apparently decoded it to discover it said "the fire rises." That, as it happens, is also the handle of a Twitter account that is now teasing its followers (13,941 and counting) with images that, we presume, are related to the film. We applaud the gumption and stamina of the effort. But given the attentional deficiencies of its target market, we wonder if the marketing might not have been better saved until, say, July 19, 2012.
A local dead lobster
After all, a whole two McLobster seasons are going to pass between now and then. This week, McDonalds restaurants brought back their summertime lobster sandwich, a delicacy that's available only in New England and the Atlantic provinces. We're told that the lobster comes from the fishermen of Escuminac, New Brunswick. It's a canny move for a quick-serve restaurant that, um, doesn't often embrace the local food movement. But if potato chip makers like Lay's can get into that game, telling consumers exactly where their potatoes were grown, why not McDonalds? Mind you, it's still not going to make us feel any better about the creepy clown.
Simon Houpt