Brand Strategy and Influencer Marketing 60’s Style

What do Rocky Marciano, Mickey Mantle and Frank Sinatra have in common?

Nellie the dolphin . . . .

Marciano left us in 1969, Mantle in 1995 and Sinatra in 1998.

Nellie was a bottle-nosed dolphin that passed away on May 1, 2014 at the tender age of 61.

She was the oldest dolphin in captivity, or as Marineland’s Dolphin Adventure prefer, “in human hands”.  Nellie became an instant sensation when at the age of eight she starred in a Timex™ commercial featured on a Frank Sinatra special.

The show aired on ABC-TV the evening of May 12, 1960 as “The Frank Sinatra Timex Show: Welcome Home Elvis,” and reportedly garnered some 67.7% of the total television audience of the day. 

Nellie’s timing was classic. Much like her sponsor’s brand, Timex.

Naugatuck Valley, Connecticut, the “Switzerland of America,” 1854

The Waterbury Clock Company was established to mass produce affordable, quality clocks later wholesaled through a network of depots State-side, as well as London and Glasgow. In 1917 Waterbury re-engineered its ladies pocket watch into a soldier’s wristwatch for the first great war. In 1930 they teamed with Disney and created, then marketed a character product, the Mickey Mouse watch.

Not to be deterred by World War II Waterbury converted its manufacturing capability to produce more high quality “mechanically timed artillery and anti-aircraft fuses” than any other Ally.

And Bill Gates?

In 1995 Bill Gates of Microsoft fame used the Timex wireless watch with optical wireless data transmission to connect with a personal computer. Making it the first wireless watch to talk to a PC.

It takes a licking and keeps on ticking”.

In 1965 Timex initiated an instantly successful network television campaign, introducing the slick, licking-ticking campaign.

It called upon some of the most powerful celebrities to not only reinforce their message, but to demonstrate it. Among them were Nellie, Marciano and Mantle.

Balboa beware. There was another Rocky. Rocky Marciano.