Commentary
'That's Rock N Roll'
- by Jon Bond , Op-Ed Contributor, November 26, 2024
They walked into our offices three hours late with no explanation other than “Well, that’s Rock N Roll.”
These were the guys who ran the tours for legends like the
Stones and sold all the official merch as well. They looked like a rag-tag bunch, but were actually representing a multi hundred million dollar company. They were the first to put the tour and
lucrative merch all in one place. The music industry version of integrated marketing.
Their idea was to launch a clothing brand called "Rockwear" off the back of The
Rolling Stones upcoming global tour. It would look a lot like Ralph Lauren Polo apparel with one exception -- in place of RL's trademark polo pony would be the iconic Stones tongue logo. A not
so subtle middle finger to "the man."
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We had a series of meetings to pull the launch effort together. On a good day, they’d only show up two hours late.
Nevertheless, we hung in there out of curiosity, amusement and, well, it was the Stones.
Finally, the big day comes and we flew to meet the Stones at one of their
tour stops. Me, my partner Richard, and a young female account person who I’ll call Jane.
Richard presented the launch ad to Mick, who is not what
you’d expect. A graduate of the London School of Economics, Jagger acted more like the brand manager for the band than a drugged out rock n roll star. Clearly, he had created the persona of Mick
and managed it carefully, the way a brand manager looked after Coca-Cola or BMW.
The ad showed the band with no clothing on and instruments strategically placed.
Mick studied it for a moment then declared, "that’s fine for me because, you know, I keep myself pretty fit... But have you taken a good look at the other guys?"
Meeting adjourned.
It was time to fly home and we gathered all our stuff, but found we were missing one key item, Jane. The band had boarded their private
jet for Tokyo, the next stop on the tour. They left our ads behind, but grabbed Jane.
Back at the office her desk remained exactly as she had left it for
days... weeks... months.
The next time I heard from her was ten years later when I got a call from the Peace Corps asking for a reference for
her.
That’s Rock N Roll!
Editor's Note: "The Greatest Ad Stories Never Told" will be an ongoing op-ed feature written by Jon Bond and others. If you have a juicy ad industry story that's never been told and would like to see it published here, contact Jon Bond at jonbond57@gmail.com.
