Floatopia Cruise Control ~ You’re apparently safe with United Technologies
This morning I decided to get up early and sip some coffee while reading some of the zillion magazines I subscribe to. The October 2007 The Atlantic arrived yesterday, which is currently tied with Business 2.0 as my favorite magazine. And, no, I’m not paid to say that.
Every once in a while, I come across something that sends me zipping from the couch to my keyboard. Today I almost spit my coffee through my teeth upon seeing an ad spread on pages 4 and 5 (click to enlarge):
Yes, that’s a cruise ship, or a floating city if you will. Are they advertising cruises?? Nope. Engineering and industrial design services…and helicopters and elevators, too, apparently. They handle $50 billion worth of diverse functions.
One of the reasons why I write this blog is because I’m floored by people’s ability to relate almost everything we buy and sell to a desire to escape from reality. Cruise ships are classic examples of floating escape, and United Technologies plays to the crowd who want their massive paradisiacal floatopia to be safe ALL the time.
It’s totally fascinating to see them take apart each element of the ship and to tell us why and how United Technologies should be involved in whatever efforts a company may want to engage in. But is that what they’re really doing?
If you look down at the text on the bottom of the ad, you see that they are actually probably marketing to potential investors. After all, they have exceeded the shareholder returns from both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 by “338% over the last decade.”
Then they go on to say: “Feel more secure, here or overseas, go to utc.com/curious.” (hyperlink added)
So what this message is really about is using a cruise ship to get your attention so that you’ll know they are a company well positioned to handle increasing world insecurity, which will lead to increased investment security, so that you can go floating off into retirement in pure bliss. Who’s in?
My favorite quote from the ad is: “We protect you from fire when an ocean of water can’t.” It’s like Noah and the second coming all wrapped up in one.
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Posted on September 11, 2007
Filed Under Advertising, Medium to Paradise, Sea and Oceans, Technology, Utopia | 1 Comment
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