Marketing always fascinates me.  On one hand it seems that it's a bunch of people that just think about how other people think and try to evoke an emotion out of an image or some words so that the person looking will remember their product the next time they're out looking to buy something.  On the other it seems like they come up with things that make no sense at all and get paid a lot of money for doing nothing.

Brand is also of great interest as it's something that over time becomes more meaningful and can work well partnered up with marketing.   Nike always comes to mind with their Swoosh and "Just Do It" phrases.

So today I took another look at the GeezerJock magazine that's featuring one of Racquetball's more prolific icons Ruben Gonzales.  Without mentioning all of his accomplishments, nor the word "Tripod" (whoa I just did...) I will comment on the actual picture.

The blue and black shirt and shorts combo looks fine.  The blue is a good color, makes him look like a teddy bear or something with the soft pastel.  The chopped off sleeves are a good touch.  You get to see the Rube's has some muscle so he's deserving of an athletic award cause he's not a wuss.  The racquet is good too as Racquetballer's will recognize it as the "Ruben Gonzales Signature" racquet.  I even like the lighting, in how it draws the eye away from the empty court to focus on the subject at hand, Mr. Gonzales.   GeezerJock magazine got a great picture.  From Ektelon's perspective though, there are problems.

Jackie pointed out the first "problem". No where on his shirt is the words Ektelon, or the Flame logo.  Not on his shorts either.  We think that Ektelon missed a big opportunity here to at least display their name.  Now take a look at the racquet.  The logo is upside down!  Sure, people can transform in their minds that logo to right side up, but who's going to pay attention to that?  Why not restencil a racquet with an upside down logo, thereby turn the logo in the picture right-side up for us?  The ball...is a Penn HD?  Another chance to show the flame logo on Ektelon's new blue balls.  Shoot, I would have made him hold it.

From GeezerJock's website:

We have a question for you: As a marketer, would you like to reach the healthiest, most vibrant members of the largest and wealthiest generation in the history of the world?

I guess Ektelon didn't want to...for free...in a non racquetball type magazine.  Oops.