Co-branding Run Amok?

Co-branding hell. I know it’s generally a good idea: get brands to cross promote each other. A tried and true tactic of even your’s truly. .MAKE THE LOGO BIGGER ...But this 6-page menage-a-brand spread currently running seems really forced. Details, Puma and NBC’s The Office, all together. A virtual logo orgy in print.

The disclaimers listed throughout are as tacky as the subject matter usually is: golf fashion. This could have been a really cool idea had Puma not talked down to its audience and broken the fourth wall. Is the message that they don’t know if they want this to be satire, ...MAKE THE LOGO BIGGER... or something so real you’ll confuse it with the magazine? Are we that stupid that we can’t tell the difference? The line that kills me though is “No celebrity endorsment implied.” Like Walken said to Hopper in True Romance: “Come again?”

Both Puma and Details are doing just that by using the popularity of the actual show to endorse their products! Maybe it’s fitting in a way that this whole layout is executed in a less-than-deft manner, considering most golf clothes suck and the fact that the US version of The Office went over the brilliant edge established by the UK version.

All I can think is that Diet Pepsi was too busy in the recording studio to take part.

*Click image to enlarge sample page, because you’re so stupid, you wouldn’t have figured this out on your own.

**Diet Pepsi, Puma, Details Magazines and NBC’s The Office in no way have endorsed this post. I can’t even confirm if they’ve read it. No animals were hurt in the making of this post. Furthermore, no animals were paid to be in this post, including a monkey. Reader makes no implied warranty comparison as seen by a doctor for erections lasting longer than a :30 second spot.

Tags: Details magazine, Puma sneakers, The Office