Vox Fortis Communications

 I was thinking about co-partnerships among companies today, and which ones work well and which ones are just kind of….lame.

Case in point. A few months ago when HBO launched John From Cincinatti, Billabong, the surf gear company, partnered with HBO to “create excitement” for the show.

There are a few things that come to mind, especially when I read stuff like this before my morning coffee.

I cringe when I hear “create excitement.” It’s a falsehood. Maybe “create interest” is more accurate, but I feel like “excitement” is something better applied to things that people give a hoot about. Excitement conjures up mental images of carnivals, scary clowns, and pony rides, not Hawaiian-print button-up shirts. It’s compounded by the fact that the surfer demographic isn’t one I can see showing overt excitement about a clothing line. Apparently there will be co-branding at flagship Billabong stores, and some point of purchase materials for their “Catch the Wave and Win” sweepstakes. (Shudder. It’s too early to get into cheesy sweepstakes names.)

Here’s the thing. Brand association can certainly be sexy, but I always feel like it has to be appropriately done. Take Sex and the City. Carrie Bradshaw become synonymous with Manolo Blahniks, but it worked. It was never the sole design line referenced, and it fit into the context and characters of the show. You certainly didn’t go into a store that sold them and saw a “Runaway Runway Sweepstakes!” sign by the register. (Ok, obviously not too early for cheesy sweeps.)

I question the motive behind the partnership, mostly because I think HBO would probably stand more to gain than Billabong. I have not watched John From Cincinatti, though it’s sitting there on my DVR collecting dust, but from what I’ve heard, it needs all the excitement it can get. I found this suprisinng based on the promos I saw which cited the NYTimes and the NYPost using all the rave phrases you’d expect, but Jossip.com may have uncovered why the show doesn’t remotely match those reviews…because those reviews don’t even remotely exist, possibly.

Is HBO ever going to produce another drop-dead hit (pun completely intended) like The Sopranos? Maybe not one big enough to be considered a cultural icon, but they certainly turned out great shows with others like Rome, Six Feet Under, etc. Maybe they need fresh blood, or maybe they’re hitting some kind of mid-life crisis. Either way, I think it’s clear that crappy shows can’t be saved simply by taking a Bong hit.