Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Wristband Advertising

I had the pleasure of going to a show this weekend, ( Matt Costa and he was great in case you're wondering) and was surprised to see the accessory of the evening, the wristbands that separated me from the youngans, were more colorful than normal.

The sticky arm band doubled as an advertisement for FX's series Dirt. The graphics are pretty cute, and I do see the appeal of branding the wrists of club goers for the night or the weekend, or however long the average person keeps their band on for, but it got me thinking about the demographic and how the advertiser chose the venue.Being a socially active twenty something in LA and Boston, I've seen plenty of hand stamp advertising but I think this is the first wristband that didn't just advertise the event or club I was attending. Normally its a cosponsor, a liquor label, or the club name if its not a black X or a crappy smiley face on the back of your hand, right?

On aesthetics alone I like it. The comic book colors and styling are fun but I was at The Paradise Rock Club in Boston. The clientèle doesn't scream Courtney Cox to me. How did they come up with that?

I thought maybe they were coating the city and it was a generic thing without too much thought, then I realized it was a specifically printed Paradise Club bracelet. Hmmm. Lets look at the schedule and see who's playing this month...

Sia, Slightly Stoopid, Pete Francis, and then the yearly return of The Dropkick Murphy's. I dunno, maybe I need to watch the show before I judge, do you think it's a match?