Air Lang Lang
MN Orch marketing chief Cindy Grzanowski pointed me to this fashion blog post from April, featuring a soon-to-be-released celebrity-branded sneaker, in attractive black and gold, retailing for a fairly reasonable $85. The celeb in question? Um...
Yeah, that's piano superstar Lang Lang, there on the heel, and his signature just next to the third, um, racing stripe(?) on each shoe. Not only that, both the man himself and NY Phil music director designate Alan Gilbert were seen sporting the limited edition sneaks last week at the big Central Park concert. The mind boggles. The new Dudamel Dog in LA and Staccato's long-running Osmo Cosmo are one thing, but this seems like a whole new level of vanity marketing for our sleepy little genre.
So what's next in the brave new world of classical product placement? A Marin Alsop-themed pantsuit? A Joshua Bell line of high-end hair care products? The Nathan Gunn Ab-Master? The world may not be ready...
Yeah, that's piano superstar Lang Lang, there on the heel, and his signature just next to the third, um, racing stripe(?) on each shoe. Not only that, both the man himself and NY Phil music director designate Alan Gilbert were seen sporting the limited edition sneaks last week at the big Central Park concert. The mind boggles. The new Dudamel Dog in LA and Staccato's long-running Osmo Cosmo are one thing, but this seems like a whole new level of vanity marketing for our sleepy little genre.So what's next in the brave new world of classical product placement? A Marin Alsop-themed pantsuit? A Joshua Bell line of high-end hair care products? The Nathan Gunn Ab-Master? The world may not be ready...
posted by Sam at
5:35 PM
5 Comments:
I'm holding out for the Nigel Kennedy branded Converse high-tops.
I wonder if the color scheme was inspired by John Miller's bassoon.
I think the real question here is why sneakers for Lang Lang?
It's quite disturbing to see another way in which marketing/advertising rules the world.....
I think the target market for these products should be much younger. We ought to introduce World-Class Symphony Action Figures to kids (aka future patrons) at an early age. Each action figure would come with instrument included. Kids would make the sections fight with each other, and of course would fight among themselves over who gets the Osmo and the Sarah (or whoever directs the symphony in their town.)
Your tongue may not be as firmly planted in your cheek as you think, Emily. Several orchestras, including ours, have used bobblehead dolls, trading cards, etc. as marketing gimmicks. I believe our marketing department is planning a set of limited edition trading cards of select musicians for the '08-'09 season as well.
And then, there's the set of trading cards I made for the viola section a few years back. I might just need to throw those up on the blog one of these days...
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