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Ferrari Takes Issue with Instagram Douchebaggery

Social media marketing, advertising, and growth

MJ DeMarco

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The Lambo guys (at least what I remember) always thought the Ferrari owners were douchebags, especially the guy who bought the old Magnum PI 308 for $52K and now suddenly thinks he's the hottest thing since sliced bread.

The Ferrari guys probably thought the same of Lambo owners.

Whatever the reality, imagine the insanity of attracting a certain pool of buyers who are douchebags...

And then when they act like douchebags, you want them to stop.


Interesting that they would try to assert trademark legalities and because this is a commercial venture, they might have a case.

Really demonstrates the slippery slope when using "props" in your advertisements of commercial ventures.

What do you think? Any lawyers on the board care to comment?
 
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MTEE1985

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I’m not a lawyer nor do I play one on the Internet...I say good for Ferrari. I suspect there is a legal reason that on so many TV shows and print ads you see a car and it’s obvious what make it is but the logo is photoshopped out.

Doesn’t take much to see that he was trying to correlate and give the illusion of a partnership between Ferrari and his brand especially with the matching shoes and car post.

My last thought is that even if Ferrari loses the case the million dollars in legal fees will hit his pockets a little harder than theirs since it isn’t frivolous and I can’t imagine a judge ordering Ferrari to pay his legal fees if he wins.
 

GPM

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Lol @ Ferrari's brand.

They literally have electric razors to shave your head with Ferrari plastered on them. What a joke
 

MTEE1985

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Lol @ Ferrari's brand.

They literally have electric razors to shave your head with Ferrari plastered on them. What a joke

Right, mentioning brand reputation is a questionable at best tactic on their end.

The real question I see is that the razor company pays a licensing fee and he doesn’t. Where is the line drawn on “a Ferrari happens to be in the picture” vs “this product approved by Ferrari”
 
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ChrisV

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Cristal did something something similar. All these rappers were bragging about "poppin' Crist" and they were like "yea we definitely don't want our brand associated with all this crap."


I mean but come on... in my opinion a good 50% of Ferrari owners have no no taste whatsoever. I'm not talking about the genuine collectors or automobile enthusiasts... but there's a good majority of Ferrari owners that are just flashy new-money douchebags who like attention.

But on the other hand, Ferrari is a serious automobile company who win countless Formula 1 races, so I can see their point. But I think their branding has been long tarnished.
 

socaldude

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I'm not an attorney but it looks like a tough case.

Ferrari has the burden of proof to prove a "likelihood of confusion" kind of like preponderance of evidence or beyond a reasonable doubt.

But I'm not exactly sure what Ferrari portrays. They put their name on shoes and on hats that people who don't even own exotics wear. As a highly aware consumer I don't even know what they are trying to portray anymore.

I don't see a lot of evidence all I see is one instagram picture. I'm gonna check the precedents in law to see how the courts have ruled in the past.

If anything it shows how Ferrari admits they have some image problems for them to do this.
 
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MattR82

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Tough titties ferrari.

As a long time F1 fan of 20 years this does not surprise me to hear in the slightest. Although it sounds more like something Luca Di Montezemolo and the slightly older guard now gone would think is a great idea.
 
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CalinPop

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I just think you cannot compare a Ferrari with a Lamborghini, example, Ferarri brand-wise is everywhere (hats, shoes, trainers, t-shirts and many more) Lambo`s, well they stick with what they know!
 

Rawseed

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My last thought is that even if Ferrari loses the case the million dollars in legal fees will hit his pockets a little harder than theirs since it isn’t frivolous and I can’t imagine a judge ordering Ferrari to pay his legal fees if he wins.

Sounds like free marketing for this Plein dude. I've never heard of him until now.
 

Andy Bell

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Damn those shoes look horrible "The average age of Ferrari owners in the US is 47.Feb 18, 2011 " Well definitely not their age bracket but isnt all advertising good advertising. Didn't cristal get a bunch of trouble after attacking rappers.
 

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The letter seems to say that the the green shoes with the Ferrari might make people think it's a collaboration, but then it says "Your behaviour, however, is even more harmful and serious in this case", which makes me think that if Taylor Swift put this same photo up, they wouldn't have a problem.

So now, do brands police the lifestyles of people who buy their stuff? I say it's tough shit for them.

They just brought this attention to themselves that nobody else ever cared about. Makes no sense. If they were miffed at him, they could have waited for him to make a few more posts to establish a pattern.

If MJ put the exact same photo up with his book on his green Ferrari, would he get this letter? (Yeah, I know MJ would never have a Ferrari :rofl:)

Doubtful.
 

ChrisV

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They just brought this attention to themselves that nobody else ever cared about. Makes no sense.
They could be trying to make an example of him. Just like Cristal denounced rappers.
 
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Fox

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Maybe they should start with those cheap $20 Ferrari leather jackets that they sell at every Irish fair ever haha.
 

AFMKelvin

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That guy should take that photo of his shoes down and go sell that Ferrari and buy himself a Lambo. I'm a valet and I come across Ferraris and Lambos frequently. The design quality of Lambos is a lot better than Ferrari's. Lambos also drive better.

And let's not forget what an a**hole Ferrari the man was. When Mr. Lamborghini told him how to make the car better he insulted him by telling him that he did not need advice from tractor mechanics.

So Mr. Lamborghini started his own luxury car instead.
 

Roli

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Whatever the reality, imagine the insanity of attracting a certain pool of buyers who are douchebags...

Pretty sure there will be just as many douchebags posing with Lambos, it's just Lambo don't have an issue with it... yet.

Cristal did something something similar. All these rappers were bragging about "poppin' Crist" and they were like "yea we definitely don't want our brand associated with all this crap."

Cristal made an extremely racist statement in order to stop that association. I believe it hurt them bad, just like Troop and Tommy Hilfiger before them.
 
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G-Man

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I don’t know about law, but as a social phenomenon this whole thing is pretty interesting . In theory, the whole reason we conspicuously consume is to draw a social distinctions between ourselves and others. The entire debate is about social status, because no one is making any assertions about the quality of a Ferrari.

Instagram new money DBag buys Ferrari to assert his newly attained social status.

Older, classier money takes issue because when new money dbags possess the same status symbols it weakens the social signals sent by their own Ferrari’s.

You see the same social dynamics at play in the recent controversy of new money bribing and gaming their way into elite universities.

Stuff like this is always interesting because it throws up an Instagram sized mirror onto parts of our nature we tend to forget about.
 

ChrisV

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I don’t know about law, but as a social phenomenon this whole thing is pretty interesting . In theory, the whole reason we conspicuously consume is to draw a social distinctions between ourselves and others. The entire debate is about social status, because no one is making any assertions about the quality of a Ferrari.

Instagram new money DBag buys Ferrari to assert his newly attained social status.

Older, classier money takes issue because when new money dbags possess the same status symbols it weakens the social signals sent by their own Ferrari’s.

You see the same social dynamics at play in the recent controversy of new money bribing and gaming their way into elite universities.

Stuff like this is always interesting because it throws up an Instagram sized mirror onto parts of our nature we tend to forget about.
That's an interesting business model. A car brand that's by invitation only. Not sure about the legality of this but for example the Hell's Angels you have to be invited in by a former member then the rest of the members have to agree they want you. Or you could start a car club and certain vehicles are only sold to members.

That would be the ultimate status symbol and it's not vulnerable to watering down of the brand.
 

MJ DeMarco

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. A car brand that's by invitation only.

A great idea in theory, but economically I'm guessing impossible unless each car was custom made and $1M plus. There would be no scale economies in tiny market (say 10K) where only a small % would accept the invite.
 
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LittleWolfie

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A great idea in theory, but economically I'm guessing impossible unless each car was custom made and $1M plus. There would be no scale economies in tiny market (say 10K) where only a small % would accept the invite.

Maybe you could white label it, bit of custom trim/bodywork dor a distinctive look, but the same thing underneath.
 

C.Hamp

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There's only two things you need to know about Ferrari.

1) See their reaction to Deadmou5 and his Nyan Cat. (Google it)

2)"You buy a Ferrari when you want to be somebody. You buy a Lamborghini when you ARE somebody" - Sinatra
 

C.Hamp

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That's an interesting business model. A car brand that's by invitation only. Not sure about the legality of this but for example the Hell's Angels you have to be invited in by a former member then the rest of the members have to agree they want you. Or you could start a car club and certain vehicles are only sold to members.

That would be the ultimate status symbol and it's not vulnerable to watering down of the brand.

This already the case with multiple existing brands. See how the flagship models are always sold out the day they are introduced.
I know that there were some models of the McLaren P1 sold before the concept was even set to paper.
 
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ChrisV

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This already the case with multiple existing brands. See how the flagship models are always sold out the day they are introduced.
I know that there were some models of the McLaren P1 sold before the concept was even set to paper.
A great idea in theory, but economically I'm guessing impossible unless each car was custom made and $1M plus. There would be no scale economies in tiny market (say 10K) where only a small % would accept the invite.
Yea... Ferrari does this with some of their higher-end models. The limited edition ones.

So you know how must companies have a premium brand? Toyota -> Lexus, VW -> Audi, BMW -> Rolls Royce... it would be interesting if one of these car companies had an uber-premium brand that was limited and invitation only.

But scaleable? Probably not. It would have to be only one revenue stream, not the entire business model.
 

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