Michael Jordan is a household name in basketball, and for good reason - his skill on the court was pretty much legendary. This commemorative telephone may seem like something of an anachronism in an age where fewer and fewer people bother with landlines, but die-hard Jordan fans might still want one. They’re numbered in a limited edition with the basketball player’s signature printed across the top, and when the “special” ringer is activated, the basketball part opens to reveal a court full of cheering, waving spectators and shots of Jordan flash across a scoreboard. Let’s see a cell phone do that. According to this site, they’re discontinued, so if you want your piece of Chicago Bulls (and telecommunications industry) history, act now…

Posted: January 13th, 2010 under General.
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Buffalo Bills star receiver Terrell Owens’ custom cereal, according to his official website, aspired to be “the new Flutie Flakes” when it was introduced this July. Lofty hopes for a newcomer to the promotional food game, but kids love celebrities with their breakfast, and the football-enhanced toasted honey nut o’s sold out ridiculously fast. Of course, the cereal’s release coincided with the launch of Owens’ reality television series “The TO Show” on VH1 and the start of the Bills sports camp at St. John Fisher College, so a few thousand boxes of “TO’s” didn’t stand a chance.

Promotional cereals are sort of the bane of parents everywhere, I think - they’re aggressively marketed to kids, have little to no nutritional content, and are shamelessly overpriced to reflect the perceived value of whatever star’s face is on the box. Still, the original Flutie Flakes transformed its creators - a three-employee operation called PLB Sports - into the major celebrity-endorsed product company it is today, and that same company proudly watched its “TO’s” sell out this summer. You have to admire that kind of marketing success.

[via Newsweek]

Posted: January 6th, 2010 under General.
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