The New York Times has an interesting article on target marketing in the realm of Ammunition.
In the article they mention how the use of TV ads, fancy packaging, webisodes, and celebrity endorsement have worked when creating a new “brand” of ammo.
The article focuses on Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and their fancy marketing with their Federal brands Fusion and Black Cloud.
Full article – HERE
Here is the “duck suit” video for black Cloud that was mentioned in the article:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZdO4icPuaA[/youtube]
Thoughts:
In the article, Jason Nash (an ATK communications and events manager) calls the video “Viral”. I would hardly call that video viral, considering it has been out since August 2009 and only has 103 views! LOL Maybe its more popular on their own website, or on another video sharing network? I get more views than that a day on my company’s videos.
As always, I am glad to see the New York Times not refer to hunting or shooting in a bad light. They could have easily resorted to talk of “cop killer” bullets, but chose not to.
When ever I think of ammunition advertising, this image always pops into my head:
The graphics are so garish and the scene is so ridiculous with the lightening, explosions and fake “agents”, it’s hard to forget. I have never used extreme shock, so I have no comment on its actual effectiveness… but I’m sure they sell more than a couple boxes just because of the way it stands out in the crowd. The only thing that ad is missing is some girls in picatinny railed bikinis.
You can check out their extreme website HERE… not recommended for children under the age of 16 and people with heart conditions. (I kid I kid… :P)