With Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear monopolising the news currently after his alleged attack on a producer in North Yorkshire, you have to wonder just what is going on. Is it just a case of everything being blown out of proportion, or is it part of a very clever marketing ploy.
Jeremy Clarkson is no stranger to controversy as most of us will be aware; he’s typically not PC and certainly not afraid to voice his opinions, indeed, these are some of the traits that endear him to many of us, us in the DPOM office for a start.
The News
Now there’s a saying that there is no such thing as bad publicity, and it would certainly appear to be true as JC potentially has a lot to gain, especially the longer he stays in the news. Why? I’ll explain.
Branding
As far as branding goes, Jeremy is a brand. Mention his name and probably the first thing you think about is Top Gear, which is also a brand. However, to many, JC IS Top Gear and therefore, no Jeremy Clarkson means the popularity of the show is going to suffer. Add into the equation that his two colleagues may go with him and also leave the BBC may well damage the Top Gear brand beyond
repair.
Global Marketing
However, brand Clarkson, who is at least partially responsible for the global success of the show, is now playing to another audience, which are the alternative broadcasters such as Sky, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5 to name but four. When you really think about it, that’s a canny piece of marketing.
The longer this infamous fracas continues, then the offerings of these alternative broadcasters will increase to secure his services. On top of that, if he should decide to leave, the BBC will be left in a rather large hole knowing that the returns from selling this show overseas could now plummet, and that’s without taking into consideration the compensation they will have to pay out due to pulling the plug on the remainder of the series.
Social Media
Social media is also playing a major part with regular tweets from Clarkson and his co presenters and their followers. All this is raising Clarkson’s stock and turning him in to a ‘must have” for the completion. Without doubt, he has used all the types of marketing at his disposable to great effect.
So, all we have to do now is to see how it all pans out. Bear in mind though, we all may have witnessed, “The best marketing strategy…………in the world!
