How good are you at PR? Can you get customers to wear your clients’ t-shirts?
That’s the ultimate brand test isn’t it? Making a brand so universally popular that customers choose to wear their t-shirts in public (niche Firefox conventions don’t count). I can’t think of many brands that manage it.
What’s really fascinating is none of the UK’s top 10 brands would pass the t-shirt test. You wouldn’t wear a Vodafone t-shirt would you?
So, what would make you wear a brand’s t-shirt, and how can we use that for PR? How can we make a brand so damned cool that we would wear their t-shirts in public? I don't know, but it's definitely worth finding out.
The t-shirt test is a great PR objective. It’s lofty, somewhat measurable (orders of t-shirts) and clearly reflects the popularity of a brand better than any research ever could.
Surely it's about brand association - cricket fans would wear a Vodafone t-shirt, after all.
Posted by: Sally | Thursday, 24 April 2008 at 09:56
Cricket fans are wearing England t-shirts. T-shirts that so happen to be sponsored by Vodafone. Cricket fans would wear the England cricket t-shirts regardless of the sponsors.
Now try putting Vodafone on a seperate t-shirt and see how many buy one.
Posted by: Richard Millington | Thursday, 24 April 2008 at 10:05
The only brand I can think of that has managed this is Jack Daniels.
Posted by: Matthew Watson | Saturday, 26 April 2008 at 20:51