Jordan’s Furniture Does it Again

While I seldom succumb to it, I’m a big admirer of sports-related marketing, which does an amazing job of branding, merchandising, and tie-ins - at least in this neck of the woods. (Most days I get a cup of tea at Dunkin Donuts, where I ALWAYS resist buying the official red and blue sprinkled donut of the Boston Red Sox or the official green sprinkled donut of the Boston Celtics.)

Last year, the big sports marketing tie-in story around here was Jordan’s Furniture. Before the season started, they promised rebates to customers who bought furniture between March 7th and April 16th if the Red Sox won the World Series. That was, of course, a mighty big "if", but Eliot Tatelman - Jordan’s CEO and pitch-man (who used to be accompanied by brother Barry, who I think checked out when Warren Buffett bought the company a few years back) - is a true Red Sox fan. And to ensure that he didn’t end up rooting against the Olde Towne Team, he took out an insurance policy so he could make good on his promise without having it cost him big time.

The guess is that - given that the Red Sox did end up as World Champeens - the insurers (as reported in the Boston Business Journal) had to make good on between $20 and $30 million. Whatever Eliot paid for the premium, I’m sure it was worth every penny in furniture sales and exposure.

This season, Jordan’s is at it again. But this season the ante - thanks, I’m quite sure to the insurers raising their premium - is up. Cash back to customers who buy over the announced period - but only if the Red Sox manage to sweep the series.

"If the Boston Red Sox sweep the 2008 World Series by winning the first 4 games, customers who make a purchase between March 25 and April 27, 2008 will receive sofas, sectionals, dining room tables, beds, tresses, and rugs for free," said Tatelman.

This is not as preposterous as it seems. Although the chances of a repeat aren’t all that great to begin with - there haven’t been many back-to-back winners lately - the Red Sox are this year’s team to beat. And given the relative strength of the American League vs. the National League, the prospect of a sweep is not out of the realm of possibility, either. (When the R-Sox won in 2004 and 2007, they swept both Series.)

Still, it’s not as good a deal as last year’s.

But it’s still pretty darned good marketing.

I watch an awful lot of baseball games, so I know that I’ll be seeing an awful lot of Eliot Tatelman - silver beard, pony tail, and Red Sox uniform - throughout the season. Good thing he’s one of the only local-owner-does-his-own-ads guys who’s actually any good at it.

 

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