Relativity Goes Rogue (Or Just Ravin’…)

COMMENTS (22)

• I’m curious what the Rogue Brewing people will have to say about this.

  Comment by Jack Burton — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 4:07pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I’ve seen this paradigm before: it was called the Firm. But I’ve also met Ryan, and perhaps he’ll have the smarts, leverage and ideas to beat Jeff K. at his old game.

  Comment by F. — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 4:14pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Ridiculous. Relativity is completely out of touch. I’m already hearing Rogue won’t last long. 15-25 year olds aren’t going to care about a Rogue rock-n-roll bus.

  Comment by Jason Rice — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 4:19pm PDT  Reply to this post

• I’m gonna look fly struttin’ down the street in my Doomsday pants, and my Last House on the Left hoodie!

  Wussup! Wussup!

  Comment by Yo yo yo yo! — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 4:37pm PDT  Reply to this post

• This is absolutely ridiculous. As someone nearing the age of 21, I can say that it’s OBVIOUS 40-year-old men have no clue how my demographic operates. Hell, WE don’t even know how we operate. If we like something, and enough of us do, then it becomes a hit. We have to want it on our own, you cannot force upon us a “lifestyle brand” and expect us to buy into it – that is just insane. Rogue has only had a few successful films, and to immediately call them a cultural phenomemon that yields to cross-platform products is a huge mistake. Who have they been talking to to know what 15-25 year olds like? This will surely fail.

  Comment by 15-25 year old audience member — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 5:03pm PDT  Reply to this post

• This is a joke right?

  Comment by Cal Bynum — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 5:12pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Perhaps, but no one is really running the place. The company has so much potential but needs someone in there to focus all of them.

  Comment by jack — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 5:50pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Ryan might want to worry about his own image first before starting a lifestyle brand…unless that lifestyle brand promotes drunk driving and looking like a slob?

  Comment by Anonymous — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 5:50pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Rogue Status is already a significant clothing brand targeting this exact demo. They have tons of celeb endorsements and their “Gun Show” shirts have become a must-have item. And they’re already in the good stores.

  http://www.roguestatus.com/

  Comment by INterested Observer — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 7:59pm PDT  Reply to this post

• @15-25 year old audience member:
  

  While I don’t doubt your independence….most 15-25 year olds are pretty malleable without even being aware of it. It’s all about MAKING you think its what you like.

  And when done well…its so devilishly evil that it has to be admired.

  Not that this will succeed at all…it’s a fairly dumb idea, and I tend to like the mildly retarded work of Rogue Pictures.

  Comment by InformedViewer — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 8:28pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Rogue is a good solid brand name for a line of clothing, the devil will be in the marketing presentation. Ryan one of the smartest guys in town so my guess is that he’ll pull it off.

  Comment by Tom — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 8:39pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Clothing? CLOTHING? This is the branding genius? Sweatshirts? I can imagine a thousand people in the sweatshirt business imagining being in the business of making movies and here is this guy making huge movies dying DYING to make sweatshirts. A culturally defining thing, those darn sweatshirts, sure to drive millions MILLIONS! to his social network where he’ll make pennies PENNIES on Viagra banner ads.

  Comment by Mr Scotty — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 10:17pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Sumner?? Is that you??

  Comment by Anonymous — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 10:17pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Neither brilliant nor screwy…Disney has been doing this for decades.

  Comment by Mickey Mouse — Monday March 16, 2009 @ 10:35pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Nothing says ROGUE more than printing it on a t-shirt promoted by a corporation that probably will have them made in sweatshops all around Vietnam.

  No, wait. That says NIKE.

  And those are selling, right? To a demographic that lines up to watch the latest blockbuster based on a toy line, right?

  Comment by Thomas — Tuesday March 17, 2009 @ 1:42am PDT  Reply to this post

• Give him a chance. Hot Topic is everywhere selling merch. He just needs to make sure he is working with respected artists and fashion designers, also most importantly that the films are iconic.

  Comment by Peter — Tuesday March 17, 2009 @ 2:52am PDT  Reply to this post

• Well, I developed a microwave that also does your taxes and will give you a killer mani-pedi. Makes about as much sense, don’t it?

  Comment by Jon — Tuesday March 17, 2009 @ 9:02am PDT  Reply to this post

• Marketing ‘professionals’ are the new lawyers. Too many of them and nearly useless to everyone but themselves.

  Comment by Anonymous — Tuesday March 17, 2009 @ 9:43am PDT  Reply to this post

• “…culturally, artistically, and digitally enlightened trendsetters” I guess they missed the almost daily research results coming out that show this age group, due to their heavy social networking/gaming preoccupation, have rewired their brains, destroyed their attention spans, and are basically retarded. Maybe by digitally enlightened they mean a bit dim.

  Comment by RG — Tuesday March 17, 2009 @ 10:24am PDT  Reply to this post

• Oh, Ryan, RYAN! We get what you’re trying to do. It’s been done a few times with some success. And you probably read that article about it on Wired.com.

  But what you don’t understand, what you’re deluding yourself about is this appeal of your brand. Kid yourself all you want, but Rouge Pictures doesn’t resonate with whomever you think your crowd is. It REALLY doesn’t. It’s not how this branding thing works.

  These boys every advertising dollar chases after, they’re down at Comic Con every year in the thousands. They run around in the gaming sections of comic book stores. They create/proliferate YouTube videos like changing their underwear.

  They’re not interested, no matter what your canned research is telling you, they’re not interested in wearing T-shirts with your wannabe, awkwardly phrased slogans on them.

  In order for things like that to work, the branding has to flow from somewhere very deep. Usually from years of penetration. Have you seen, for example, those T-shirts that say “Han Shot First”? That kind of thing is earned. It doesn’t come from watching mediocre-to-shitty horror movies a few times in the theater.

  They may go see your movies, but that age group? They had no frigging idea who makes them. Believe me, I’ve sat in on your company’s desperate Comic Con panels. And even if the name “Rouge Pictures” blips in their memories, you can rest assured they don’t remember much about it the next morning, when they’re cutting together their next gaming trailer for YouTube.

  Now if you were the maker of Call of Duty…

  Comment by Ella — Wednesday March 18, 2009 @ 12:46am PDT  Reply to this post

• I would totally buy Rogue-branded trash bags.

  Comment by Anonymous — Wednesday March 18, 2009 @ 11:08am PDT  Reply to this post

• What a stupid idea, don’t waste your money/time

  ps I’m 24

  Comment by target demo — Wednesday March 18, 2009 @ 11:50pm PDT  Reply to this post