Serendipity Marketing

Yesterday, Ronaldo slammed his Ferrari into a tunnel, and came out untouched. While ManU fans may be relieved, Ferrari is enjoying.

Levis should now come out and inform the world, "Ronaldo's left knee was only slightly hurt during the accident. However, the Levis jeans he was wearing was partially torn".

You think I am kidding? This is what Telegraph had to say: "After the crash, Ronaldo probably picked up his Louis Vuitton bag and waited for the bus".

Way to go, Louis Vuitton!

Seriously, imagine what a brand would give for this: 1 Entire Day of World-Wide Headlines (tv news, websites, radio, print) with the mention of the brand name and that of Cristiano Ronaldo - the Best Football Player on Planet Earth - in the same breath.

Triillions! Moreso, when the context is such eye-popping and emotionally relevant as an accident.

Ferrari achieved that for zot cost. No one will even hint at a defect in Ferrari causing the incident (it's a Ferrari - it cannot be defective), but everyone will now know that Cristiano Ronaldo, the Ballon d'Or recipient, drives a Ferrari. The icing on the cake would be if Ferrari offers Ronaldo a new car as a graceful consolation - evoking all sorts of admiring emotions amongst the fans ... winning more heart-space!

I guess Montezemolo (Ferrari chief, and as influential in sports as one gets) may have actually paid Ronaldo to slam the machine into some tunnel, anticipating all the media-commotion post-crash. One of the safest marketing investments, in my opinion.

4-5 years ago, when Beckham first visited Madrid for the then imminent transfer from Manchester United to Real Madrid, it was scheduled to be a two-day event. Without wait, Audi jumped into the picture and offered Real to manage every inch of Beckham's conveyance during the two-day program.

Real saw it as an expense saved, and obliged. The result: Audi was all over the media for those two days. Those two days, as Audi declared, did more for its marketing than what they normally would achieve in an average year with their entire marketing budget!

Marketing can be such an exciting domain to be in! Happy B'Day to my hamesha-analytic friend, Parle.