The Idea Dude

CONNECTING THE DOTS ONE AT A TIME

Thursday, September 11, 2008

George Clooney has my phone

I have a old Blackberry hand-me down. Old in that is probably a 3-year old model that has similar proportions to a brick. It is creamy white with a blue face, so unlike the slim shiny phones you get these days. It's saving grace is that it has a bright display that my aging eyes appreciate. I ditched my previous Blackberry that had a non-lit black and white LCD display.

To say it is unfashionable would be an understatement. My daughter would rather use quarters and a payphone than carry my phone around. Over the weekend we were watching Michael Clayton and lo and behold, George Clooney's character had exactly the same model. RIM must have paid a fortune because it was shown repeatedly and quite prominently in the movie.

"Look Dad, he's got the same phone as you!"

All of a sudden, my phone was cool. I felt cool!

Then dawned the realization why we pay athletes and celebrities millions of dollars to endorse our products. Sometimes there is more value in what people endorse than the product itself.

That is the power of endorsement.