After the Titanium Rush - Company Business and Marketing

Industry Standard, The, April 23, 2001 by Robert Levine

To: Titanium Industry Cartel (TIC),

Titanium Action Coalition (TAC)

From: Joe Steel, President, Titanium Industry Network (TIN)

Re: Buffing our image

Quick, what's the difference between a brushed titanium computer and a molded plastic computer?

Give up?

About $1,000.

That killed 'em at this year's "Monsters of Metal" Expo.

Seriously, though, we're a few months into our new initiative, Titanium Adds Cachet and Kicks for Yuppies (TACKY), and we've been getting great response. It's hard to believe it's been only two years since we launched our brand-building campaign, "Titanium: It's not just for Frank Gehry anymore." Next thing you know, Gehry uses it for the Conde Nast cafeteria and fashion mags are declaring, "Titanium is the new black." Of course, the big news is the new PowerBooks -- they're flying off the shelves! And that twinkle in consumers' eyes is pure, 100 percent titanium.

But we have a number of challenges ahead. For one, the aluminum people beat us to the Palm V. Losing to a household metal was a blow -- I wish those foil folks would stick to leftovers and leave style to the stylish! Also, we can't quite quash the translucency trend. I think part of our problem is metaphorical -- people talk about transparent corporations and transparent government. Our job is to convince consumers they'd rather be curvilinear.

Some updates on specific initiatives:

* We're on schedule to roll out our home-design ad campaign -- an Architectural Digest buy, some TV spots, maybe a consumer-oriented Web site. The folks at Wallpaper have already committed to a special metals issue with a titanium cover. (They've agreed to go with our cover line: "Got titanium?") We'll need a new slogan, though. The agency people want "Titanium -- the other silver metal." That's catchy, but I worry that it will erode our prestige. My favorite so far: "Put the urge back in metallurgy."

* We're still talking with AmEx about calling their high-end product the Titanium Card. We should have an answer on that soon, although one, of their marketing guys told me they're worried titanium is -- get this -- "not a color." I told him we're in talks with Crayola.

* The Olympic Committee will have a decision for us next week about downgrading the gold medal. They were a little reluctant to consider our proposal, but we hit them with that new information packet "Beyond the Golden Age: New Paradigms in Metals." (Thanks to Bob Kranholz for cranking out this white paper at the Tampa convention. Sorry you missed the Ferrous Follies, Bob!)

* This is still in the early stages, but we're talking to the Fed about putting the nation on a titanium standard. There's some resistance, of course, but a recession is the right time to make a change like this, and it certainly sends the right message for a postindustrial economy.

* We sent a formal inquiry to MGM about finalizing the product placement for The Wizard of Oz special-edition DVD. Maybe we can make the change digitally this week. The real challenge will be getting rid of the Tin Man's oil-can hat-it's not exactly on-message. Also, instead of having him search for a heart, could we have him looking for accessories? Those new cadmium cuff links would look great.

Robert Levine is a writer in New York.