PR BASICS: SHOEHORNING YOUR BRAND IN THERE, NO MATTER WHAT

Notes

Was Victory Beer the Inspiration for the Logo of NBC’s The Voice?

Promos for [The Voice] were shown throughout the sports broadcast, all featuring the logo for the series: a raised hand, holding a microphone, with the index and middle fingers held aloft in the well-known “V for Victory” sign.

If you’re a craft beer fan, the image may have looked familiar – extremely familiar. Downingtown, PA-based Victory Brewing Company has used a strikingly similar image as its logo since its founding. The brewery’s logo was based on a 1994 sketch by president and brewmaster Bill Covaleski.

Okay, you see the Victory products around Philadelphia a lot and that ain’t the logo they use. The one at the top of this page, that’s the one you see on their bottles, in their ads, on their cases and even on the shirts of the staffers in that photo on the homepage.

Now, why on earth would this even-

After [Victory’s communications director, Karen Noonan] noticed the semblance, she posted a comparison image via the company’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. The tweet, in which she mentioned the TV show’s official account, was extremely popular, garnering 111 retweets in under three hours.

Well, there you go. Someone was earning their pay on a Sunday afternoon, hoping to hitch their star to a hit network like NBC!

Despite fans of Victory Beer clamoring for a lawsuit or a royalties check…

Really? I find that hard to believe. Who would actually-

- “They bit ur shit!! Not cool!”
- “i seen that cennection last year when this show was on. I think someone should sue them”
- “If anything make them stop, make sure it makes it in the news big! and watch the sales increase.”
- “It could just be a coincidence, the V-sign isn’t exactly original. However, I’ve never seen it used in conjunction with a object being held in the hand.”

Oh, internet. Don’t ever change.