Strange Branding at CES 2015, Polaris Slingshot and SCOTTeVEST [video]

BreakingModern — I don’t usually cover automotive culture, but a serendipitous photograph let me have a chance to not only meet Scott Jordan, the CEO of SCOTTeVEST, but spend a few days behind the wheel of the new Polaris Slingshot SL Pocket Edition.

Out of all the CES 2015 coverage of the Polaris Slingshot, nobody got as up close and personal with it as I did. That’s thanks to Jordan and his trusting, charismatic personality. I love the way he took a novel approach to getting some brand recognition at one of the largest trade shows Las Vegas has ever seen.

Polaris Slingshot

When I say large, I mean a monumental amount of people and exhibits. According to Ian King’s article on Bloomberg CES is simply too big for Las Vegas. We’re talking about 35 football fields, or roughly two miles of floor space. My dogs were definitely barking toward the end of the week.

Polaris Slingshot

Double Branding

So, how does one get attention in the midst of all this chaos and social engineering? Simple, you take the money you would have normally spent on an exhibitor’s booth, and instead buy one of the coolest looking rides in Las Vegas.

Polaris Slingshot

Jordan did just that. To be clear, he is the founder of SCOTTeVEST, a company that makes tech-oriented jackets for seasoned drivers, who just came out with an autobiography entitled Pocket Man: The Unauthorized Autobiography of a Passionate Personal Promoter. To promote his brand (which has no new products this year) he bought a Polaris Slingshot, a rad three-wheeler car, outfitted it with his Pocket Man logo and then drove around, advertising both the car and his own company.

In the couple days I spent with him, Jordan received more positive PR associated with his Pocket Man persona (and book, and other company, of course) than would have been humanly possible sitting at a booth camouflaged by the sheer immensity of the show. From what I could dig up online, there were over 160,000 attendees at CES 2015. So much, in fact, that according to King’s article on Bloomberg, there were “10,000 more people than Las Vegas has rooms for them to sleep in.”

Just think about that for a second. I was there, and I’m having a hard time digesting those numbers. For those of us who work better with graphs, here’s what it looks like.

CES 2015 Stats

Why wait for the people to come to you, when you can go directly to the people. In style nonetheless. I’ve never been gawked and stared at more in my life than when I was driving Jordan’s Polaris Slingshot. No matter who you are or what you are doing, there’s just something magical in its design that makes people smile.

Polaris Slingshot

Every time we pulled up next to an actual sports car (the one that comes to mind is a nice, brand new cherry red Corvette) the guy behind the wheel looked over, and instantly a smile of half joy and half envy appears on his face.

And the craziest thing is that you could easily purchase three of these SL model Slingshots for what that new Corvette costs. Let’s be real, would you rather spend almost $80,000 on a new Corvette Z06, or have a little fleet of Polaris Slingshots to drive around in? Sure, it’s apples to oranges, but when you’re on the road in the Slingshot, everything else just feels like a lemon.

Polaris Slingshot

Meme Your Way to Popularity

Not only was Jordan driving around in the slick car with his logo painted on, but he even started a meme. The guy knows what he’s doing. The best way to spread the word of Pocket Man is to get everyone you come in contact with to pose in front of the Slingshot. This quickly turned into a giant cachet of Pocket Man Power Poses, including everyone from Guy Kawaski to the diesel mechanic where we stopped to get gas.

People were a little awkward at first, but they were dying to get their picture taken in front of this beast. It was quite the experience to watch Jordan work his magic on all the good people of Las Vegas. This sort of attention is priceless, especially when you get recognizable, big-name people to do it.

I heard there’s even a picture of Spider-Man doing the Pocket Man Power Pose in front of the Slingshot. Priceless. I’ve got a more tech oriented review of the Polaris Slingshot over on aNewDomain, but here’s a video of Jordan and myself tearing it up in Vegas.

For BMod, I’m .

All Images/Screenshots: Mat Lee

Mat Lee

Author: Mat Lee

Based in Kalispell, MT, Mat Lee is a senior contributor at aNewDomain.net. He writes hip hop, makes podcasts, and dabbles in gaming in his spare time. Follow Mat Lee on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.

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