Southern Comfort’s TV ad hopes to create big buzz
By Beth Teitell
Thursday, March 2, 2006

Is it just me, or is the ‘‘So” situation getting out of hand? That’s ‘‘So” as in SoHo, SoCal, SoWa, SoBe, CoSo and now, Bubba help us, SoCo, as in Southern Comfort.
        It’s so, so wrong, isn’t it?
        Have you seen Southern Comfort’s new TV campaign? It’s painful to watch a whiskey try so hard. The new ad, which introduces the zippy moniker and SoCo Lime (yum!) to the general public, is running on such fun stations as F/X, E!, Comedy Central, USA Network and TBS.
     Hey, speaking of fun, guess who else is fun? SoCo, that’s who. I mean, what? It’s hard to remember SoCo’s not, technically, a person, after hearing its spokespeople describe its ‘‘personality.”
        ‘‘It’s fun, easygoing and inclusive,” one spokesman told Business Wire. Inclusive? Another described it as ‘‘energetic.”
        Have you ever knocked back a few Southern Comforts? The last thing you feel is ‘‘energetic.”
        With the reported $3 million campaign under way, here’s the real question: Can Bubba’s favorite tipple re-brand itself as slice? I put the question to yet another spokesman, Phil Lynch, who took issue with the question. ‘‘You are wrong (to think it’s a Bubba drink),” he explained. ‘‘I guess it’s because you’re from the North and it has its origins in the South.”
        Sorry, how Blue State of me. Maybe I’m just jealous. After all, SoCo’s drinkers have a ‘‘contemporary outlook on life” and are ‘‘social, useful and friendly.” Makes me wonder what I’ve been missing.
        In fact, I’m so out of it that I didn’t even know that Southern Comfort’s core drinkers have called it SoCo for years. One can only imagine how Ripple drinkers refer to their beloved. Rip? Or R.I.P. Are people out there swilling WiTu, not Wild Turkey? And NiTra instead of Night Train? I fear I’m miles out of the loop.
        And we already know this annoying abbreviation trend can jump from products to people, just like bird flu, or BiFl. Witness J.Lo. Who’s next? DiChe, our newly branded vice president, reborn as an Italian playboy?
        On the plus side, a peppy little moniker such as SoCo can make clandestine bouts of drinking sound downright refreshing. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to feel ‘‘energetic.”