Branding Speculation

When I heard Maury Buford's ads for his roofing company -- former Chicago Bear from the Super Bowl team who kicked the ball -- he says that "I'm a big P1 fan of the Ticket."  First time I heard it, I smiled, thinking well, he probably listens to The Ticket, but a true P1 would never say "P1 fan of The Ticket," because it's redundant. 

But then, this morning, I heard Corby doing a Baker Bros. Plumbing ad, and he also used the phrase "P1 fan of The Ticket." 

Two possibilities:  (1) He was making fun of Buford's locution, or (2) he was told to say it.  It was in the copy.

I'm thinking it may be (2).

Interestingly, "The Ticket" as a name for a radio station is not trademarked.   Whoever got the station going all those years ago probably didn't have an attorney who cared much about intellectual property issues -- either that, or they were too worried about surviving to worry about whether their station's name would ever have any value.   Turned out that it does, and now there are lots of "Tickets" all over the country.  And there's nothing that The one-and-only-genuwine Ticket can do about it.

Typical P1's Being Interviewed at Recent Remote

Maybe they're trying to change that.

"P1" -- it's been around too long, other people now use it, it can't be trademarked.  (Or copyrighted, I don't know which is which, zackly.)   But a distinctive phrase using "P1" could be.   And in order to trademark something, I think the rule is that you have to show that you're using it.  Wild speculation -- Cumulus is trying to wring some trademark value out of one of their (formerly) unique verbal inventions.

I've got a buddy who's an IP lawyer.   I'll check to see if Cumulus has any pending intellectual property applications out there. 

In the meantime, listen and let me know if you hear "P1 fan of The Ticket" in any other contexts.

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