On June 21, I told you about the new Wild Turkey distillery in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. I also told you about the brand's questionable new advertising campaign, built around the theme "Give 'Em The Bird."
So impressed by their own creative genius are the folks behind this campaign at Gruppo Campari (Wild Turkey's parent company) that they are suing Beam Global for using the line to promote Old Crow Bourbon. Campari claims Wild Turkey has used the slogan since 2006, when the brand was owned by Pernod. Campari bought Wild Turkey in 2009.
Old Crow was, of course, named after Dr. James C. Crow, a pioneering bourbon maker who died in 1856. The name "Old Crow" was used during his lifetime and Old Crow formally became recognized as a brand name not long after his death. The Wild Turkey brand was launched in 1940. That has nothing to do with the trademark case, but it's good to know.
As for which of them gave us the bird first, whichever one it is, I wouldn't brag about it. There is still such a thing as bad taste.
Isn't there?
In other bird-related trademark litigation, Beam Global has sued Diageo for failure to use its Jose Cuervo crow symbol in accordance with a 1997 agreement regarding Old Crow and other crow-related marks owned by Beam.
Can't we all just get along? It is amazing to me how the parent companies act like this, but the actual people making th whiskey get along with and are friends with each other.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend tell me, "If you mess with the bird, you've gotta expect the beak" re: Old Crow. Seems like a line that probably predates both my friend and these advertising campaigns. It does not predate the existence of bad hangovers.
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