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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2563 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 22, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Trademarks are for authenticating products

That’s not what trademarks are for in practice. They are for signaling status. Any visible trademarked logo you see is for status. I’m all for manufacturer authentication, just not visible externally or too small to be noticed by someone else.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/how-the-stanley-cup-went-viral

In 2019, the brand’s now star product, the forty-ounce Quencher, was selling so poorly that the company had stopped restocking or marketing it. A partnership with the Buy Guide, an affiliate-marketing site based in Utah, where the Quenchers were popular among Mormon mothers, saved it. Coached by the Buy Guide, in 2020, Stanley launched a new Web site and an affiliate-marketing system through which fans could make money by driving sales

Outsourcing marketing is marketing

What might appear to be an organic phenomenon, though, is actually an engineered corporate crossover. Companies prepare carefully, and expensively, to cultivate their moments of ubiquity. They leverage our attention, the same way an influencer does, to convert online viewers into fans and customers.

That’s not what trademarks are for in practice. They are for signaling status. Any visible trademarked logo you see is for status.

Right, the visible trademarked logo on e.g. LingLong tires is for status.

I’m all for manufacturer authentication, just not visible externally or too small to be noticed by someone else.

It'll be way better when people have to show the bottom of their Stanley cups to show that they are part of the latest trend than when they show the side.

A partnership with the Buy Guide, an affiliate-marketing site based in Utah, where the Quenchers were popular among Mormon mothers, saved it. Coached by the Buy Guide, in 2020, Stanley launched a new Web site and an affiliate-marketing system through which fans could make money by driving sales

The partnership only happened after they sold the ten thousand units they bought at their own risk in no time.

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