It started innocently enough. I was writing some copy for the home page of the Pier 8 Group website to encourage people to visit our new blog. I wanted to make a point about how the blog is a place where we can have a conversation. As writers often do, I tried a little lateral thinking to see if I could come up with an interesting way to say this, and my thoughts turned to Tom Hanks.
In the movie Cast Away, Tom is marooned on a desert island, where his only companion is a soccer ball named Wilson. He had found the ball in one of the FedEx packages he salvaged from the plane crash. While trying to make a fire, he cuts his hand and, in a fit of anger, picks up the ball and throws it, leaving a bloody hand print that vaguely resembles a face. Because the company’s name is stamped on the back, he decides to call it “Wilson”, and the ball become his new best friend.
At least, that’s how I remembered it.
So, I wrote a little piece inviting my readers to imagine themselves in Tom’s position, with only a soccer ball to talk to. The conversation, I assured them, would be a lot more lively at the Pier 8 Group blog.
A few days later, after posting my copy to the website, our interactive guru Mark Wu, who is also president of 2gen.net, calls me to ask if the page looks OK. “Looks great”, I say.
“Just one thing though”, says Mark, “you know it’s not a soccer ball – it’s a volleyball.”
“No way! Really?”, I said, but in my confidence was quickly waning. Mark, you see, is not only a talented website guy, he also coaches children’s soccer.
“Yeah”, he says, “Wilson doesn’t make a soccer ball, but they do make volleyballs.”
And so they do. I checked on Wiki and found that Wilson was, indeed, a volleyball, created by screenwriter William Broyles Jr. In fact, you can purchase your own authentic Wilson Cast Away ball at Amazon.com for $14.99.
As it turns out, the Wilson Sporting Goods company did quite well with their product placement in this movie. Brand awareness jumped as the company launched its own promotion focusing on the fact that one of its products was “co-starring” with Tom Hanks.
The sport of volleyball, on the other hand, fared less well, at least when it comes to my own remembering. Oh well, as Freud might say, sometimes a ball is just a ball.
Bob Mills
Recent Comments