Car Chases: The Untapped Marketing Well

Well, folks. I humbly lay this text submission before you as a sign of courage. You see, this is the first time in almost two years that I have sat down to write a full, thought out blog in the interests of your entertainment and the expansion of my budding creative skills. For months now I have been hesitant to write down my ramblings, because quality is what I strive for and during that time I didn't want to put anything out there that fell short of that.

But here I am. Ready to step out into the world once again. I do hope you enjoy.
(FYI - For those interested in my previous submissions, you can find them at http://blogs.myspace.com/axstivers)

Okay, on to today's subject matter.
According to the 'Twitter-verse', a good portion of you took a peek at the car chase involving the Houston Police and Harris County Sheriffs' Departments, and two perps rolling in a white Dodge Caravan. This 90 minute event was carried live by all the major news nets in addition to the locals. Seems like we as a culture will never become jaded to 'cop drama' - taped or live. But as I watched this chase, I began to take into mind the large audience that quickly jumped aboard, and the crazy marketing opportunities that could spawn out of something like this. So, after some thought, I have put together a few hypotheticals...

1. "This Ain't Your Mom's Caravan" - This has to be the easiest spin to come out of today's chase. Chrysler may be struggling financially, but it looks like their vehicles can really perform when required. I mean, the majority of police chases often see the perp vehicle breaking down from the rigors of police pursuit, but this Dodge handled the experience like a champ... and I do mean 'handled'. Not only did that van effortlessly cruise along the Beltway at around 100 mph, but managed to "dodge" the slower traffic with ease. And let's not forget the 10+ U-turns, dekeing around "stopsticks" and the curb-jumping. It even took a nice shot right the sliding door from a patrol car. If I were Chrysler, I'd be on the phone with my MD. "Grab Life by the Horns" (When you're not grabbing pavement with a HPD officer on top of you).

2. "Stopsticks, Stopsticks, Stopsticks" - Okay, first off, in no way am I one to put down the police. Many of my friends are in law enforcement, I greatly appreciate what they have to go through for us, and my father served for a state agency. Also, I understand that because of past pursuits, the HPD and area departments have had to rewrite a more conservative rulebook when it comes to chases. But if I had to take anything away from this chase, it is that there is a need for a more effective method for "stopstick deployment." Someone in product development needs to get on the ball quickly in order to reap benefits from this, because the entire audience saw two embarrassing 'whiffs' by officers trying to throw those stopsticks in front of the van.

3. Harris County Toll Road Authority - Sugar Land to Greenspoint in under 20 minutes?? Enough said. I'm SOLD!!

4. "Tow Trucks. We Help the Cops in More Ways Than One." - Did anyone else happen to see the ridiculous number of tow trucks already in the Greenspoint area when the chase was still going on? And few of them even tried to lend a hand by trying to block the Caravan. That's positive PR you can't write.

5. Greenspoint Chamber of Commerce - This actually falls on the opposite end of the marketing spectrum, as the police chase only adds to an already smudgy image for the area. When that Caravan started to linger around the mall and the hotels, Houstonians had to cringe, and then maybe grin.

Finally, I want to add something that we probably missed out on, and that's the possibility of opportunists seizing this event as a chance to promote themselves. I know it's a long shot, but I would loved to have seen one of those struggling, self-employed sales people with their product tattooed on their vehicle speeding along with the perp vehicle in order to get the free airtime. The only thing that would have made this event perfect is some poor self-promoter driving a car with either Mary Kay or MonaVie splattered all over it, getting into a fiery accident like Anthony Kiedis and Flea in 'The Chase'.

"Monster Madness!"

All in all, it was good to see the HPD come out as winners is all of this. But I'm telling you, there's always more that can come out, too. Marketers, you just have to be open-minded.

AX