We Have the Room

“Because the more I promote myself the more value I have to you.’ 

That was my response after a somewhat terse exchange with ‘management’ regarding my use of product placement in the video. The conversation came about as questions arose about the amount, frequency and placement of logos, images, mentions or outright testimonies of the PowerBarn, sponsors of the ten day journey, captured on video and in production for premiere showing at the gym, we call it an athletic club, where I am a indoor cycling instructor. I also happen to be the owner, head facilitator and CEO and janitor of the aforementioned PowerBarn, an indoor cycle training facility once housed at the club. Conflict of interest or one big happy family? 

Borrowing from an outstanding article on the modern marketing practice of seeing and selling abundance rather than scarcity (measured by share of market and the potential for additional share in new markets, created by forward thinking professionals) I asked of myself the appropriate response to the standard fear-based questions. Is the pie so small that we cannot expand past current options? Is this it, no more growth, expansion, tests or product demonstrations? This is the formula, the model and the recipe all wrapped into one without the possibility of experimental deviation? 

Take a 2,700 mile road trip in a branded SAG vehicle, strap your bike to the rack, toss a dart in the direction of adventure, invite your friends and film whatever happens along the rugged coastal route (cosmically suggested by that dart.) Make a video of the event. Present the video to your clients and club members as an inspirational, joyous and entertaining hour-long spin session. 

While not exactly by a mile, it is definitely outside of the box. It is different, new, timely and important. Anything related to extending the health and fitness of any demographic in any location is important. Obesity is the now the number one cause of death for Americans having recently passed heart disease as public health enemy numero uno. I am sponsoring a ten thousand dollar bucket-list trip and the subsequent documentary video as a way to attract more people to our health-fitness-training-adventure paradigm and your first question is about the number of times my logo appears in the film? 

That hurts. 

I spent the better part of last night working the issue, trying to validate my unease and deep sadness in the initial response of the executive task force at the club who seemed to be wanting both the cake and its consumption too. From a ‘fine, we’ll go elsewhere with our little happiness doc,’ to ‘whatever,’ I compared the options. I feel obliged to stand firm on editorial content, this is mine. But it would be pretty easy to soften the promotional spots and add their logo a few times. We can negotiate a happy medium. I don’t need to add any additional stress to an already compromised relationship. I would like this to last and all I need to make that happen and get a shot at a second try, is to fill the room with twenty-four butts on twenty-four bikes. Not exactly like selling out Benaroya Hall for Sunday afternoon matinee. 

We get to the gist, the down and dirty, the bottom line of the heart of the matter. I can say no, play the indignant card, resist, fight, never say die and walk away. Pride, honor and loyalty to independent filmmakers everywhere intact. I can maintain the integrity of my content, dream, idea, intellectual property and copyright. I can win. 

Or I can see the bigger picture and relent, make it happen, compromise a happy medium agreement and check my ego at the door. I can win. 

It strikes me as odd that the protection of a brand includes the rejection of another, like there is just this one cake and we need every crumb. Another can never be baked? In thinking this through from flour, to dough to fully-baked presentation, a delicious idea satiates my gourmand tendencies and I ask of the cook:

“Does not our appetite come through eating?’ 

The more cakes that we bake, pies that we serve and healthy opportunities we create, the greater the chances that we will attract more people to our table. 

The more I promote myself the more value I have to you. 

We have the room.