Friday, January 23, 2009

Branding Geniusness by Chicago... The Band...


Heard the classic song "25 or 6 to 4" by Chicago on the radio today. Realized just how subtle yet effective a job the band did to market themselves...

Consider how the word Chicago is used in many different contexts, but primarily referring to the city.

Now think about Chicago, the band.

You immediately conjure up the word Chicago, but in that classic script that just oozes 70s rock. Maybe you even hear a horn section playing in your head. Pretty amazing, isn't it? That's the power of branding, folks.

My bet is that the script was just an afterthought, not a blatant attempt to distinguish the musical group from the city. But whatever the case, it worked. And after all, does anybody really care how it got that way? Or for that matter, does anybody really know what time it is?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Here's an interesting fact about Chicago and their branding, Mike: Did you know they were originally called "Chicago Transportation Authority?" The used this name until the city's mass transit company sued for trademark or copyright infringement. The band changed their name to Chicago because the city apparently does not have similar rights to the name =)