Hatrack River Forum: 1-800 BAR NONE i.e. pets.com i.e. Triumph rip-off

This is topic 1-800 BAR NONE i.e. pets.com i.e. Triumph rip-off in forum Books, Films, Food and Culture at Hatrack River Forum.

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Posted by IdemosthenesI (Member # 862) on :

OK, I just saw a commercial for a financial services company (or loan shark) that used the pets.com spokespuppet. The funny thing is, I didn't think that puppet had been particularly effective considering pets.com went under. Also, I seem to remember a lawsuit involving copyright infringement that took place when Robet Smigel, creator of Triumph, made some fairly unflattering comments regarding said spokespuppet. So here's the question. What sort of marketing moron would buy an ineffective and legally dubious trademark from a defunct dot-com. Particularly one that had connection with its original product (pet store to dog) but no connection whatsoever with the new one?

Posted by Taalcon (Member # 839) on :

I have the pets.com sock puppet dog clinging to my rear driver's side car window. Have for a few years now. Everone assumes that it's a monkey, so I call him "Muppy - The Monkey Puppy".

Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :

The bank bought out the trademark rights when pets.com went under years ago.

And the pets.com puppet was about the only thing pets.com did RIGHT. After all, here we are, the company long gone, and we all immediately know what you are talking about, including the web site.

Which is exactly what advertising is supposed to do.

-Bok

Posted by Zalmoxis (Member # 2327) on :

Bok is right.

Plus there is a history of financial services companies using goofy mascots to good effect -- the Geico gecko and the Aflac duck being the best current examples. So it's not like the branding strategy being deployed here is without precedent.

Posted by MEC (Member # 2968) on :

I liked the fake aflac commercial where the duck got shot with a shotgun when he annoyed some guy.

Posted by Ayelar (Member # 183) on :

Oh god, the pets.com commercial where the puppet is singing "if you leave me now.... you'll take away the biggest part of me... oooooooEEEEEEEEEooooooooooooooooo...."

Man, I must have watched that a bazillion times. I loved it. Whatever this company is should just replay the same commercial and paste their logo at the end. [Big Grin]

Posted by Dobbie (Member # 3881) on :

By the way, Robert Smigel's claims are complete nonsense.