Arm-wrestling: the ultimate marketing showdown.
What do you do when another company has your slogan? Arm-wrestle over it, of course. That’s what Herb Kelleher (CEO of Southwest Airlines) and Kurt Herwald (Chairman of Stevens Aviation) did. In 1990, Southwest was using the slogan “Just Plane Smart.” But turns out it was already in use by Steven’s Aviation. Instead of getting into a lengthy legal battle, Kurt asked Herb Kelleher: “Want to arm wrestle for it?” And so, “Malice in Dallas” was born. In return, both firms gained a massive public relations bump and national news coverage. Too often, the need to steal market share away from our competitors makes the thought of any sort of co-marketing seem impossible. It's a zero sum game. Although Southwest and Steven's Aviation were not direct competitors, I still think two competing companies could take a similar approach to co-marketing in order to raise the awareness of their category and increase the size of their pie.
