WARNING: Picture may not be accurate. Only douchebaggery remains true.

So I guess they’re trying to expand their advertising game and I’ve recently started noticing they put up polls regarding different things. Here’s one I got today:

Sweet, I'm in the majority.

Come on Facebook, if you’re going to use my profile to harvest information about me, and then perform market research on my habits and behaviours, at least PAY me for it.

It’s the least you could do in this tough economy.

Hydra Vodka Water was a product created by Vincor, a company that owns many well-respected wines in Canada. It was created as an entry into the alcoholic cooler market, that is extremely fickle, is made up of fad drinks, and has several heavy hitters in the industry.

Vincor had five choices for their new cooler:

1. Fresh Fruit Juice
2. Gin-based
3. Spring Water-based
4. Tequila-based
5. Energy Drink-based

To make a long story short, Vincor decided to go with the Spring Water-based alcoholic cooler, due to the rising popularity of Spring Water, apparently very much so in the target market. The cooler was priced at a premium, priced similarly to Smirnoff Ice.

Apparently, the cooler did fantastically well in its first year, and then promptly fell off. Which leads me to this question:

Who in their right mind thought that diluting vodka with “spring water” and selling it $9.45 for a 4-pack was a good idea? Why wouldn’t you try drinking vodka and water before you sell it? It tastes like water that’s been tainted.

Hydra Vodka Water serves as a good example of coming up with an idea, going through all the market research motions and thinking it will be popular, and selling it without stopping to think:

Why would anyone pay a premium for diluted vodka?

Comic book companies, like record labels, have found that the death of a big star is great for sales. When Superman was killed by Doomsday in 1992, DC saw a Cobain-like surge in sales, and the issue was the best-selling in franchise history. However, unlike Biggie Smalls (but very much like Tupac) the character was resurrected. Captain America saw a similar bump after a sniper shot him down in New York last year.

I think this is a horrible marketing ploy, but I guess if it’s going to generate sales for you, I can’t really complain. But then again, if they gave Batman enough time to plan, it would be discovered that he never really died and it was just a decoy.

Kind of a shame that they’re only doing this to appeal to the masses, rather than creating a meaningful and memorable story arc. Shame on you DC Comics.