The Billboard

Recently we began hearing rumors of a questionable billboard in downtown Spokane that was put up by a PNW apparel company.

People started asking us if it was our company that put up a bear sex billboard. My initial reaction was something like, ‘Are you kidding?! We’re not that stupid!’, then proceeded to let them know it was another company called The Great PNW.

How Bad Was It?

When I finally saw the billboard for myself I wasn't sure what to think. It's not grotesque, or even really all that lewd. It's very simple, but crosses the line just enough to offend the general public.

Now personally, I don't think it's all that bad and could have just stayed up for people to view. On the other hand, it didn't really need to since it's all over the internet now. Pretty genius move I must say.

Admittedly, we’ve been chasing The Great PNW since we started this company. They’ve got a few years on us and had already set the bar pretty high. We kind of look at them as the level of success we’re striving for. So when we found out what they did, we thought it was pretty asinine and may benefit us….at first.

The Results

Then a crazy thing happened….they blew up onto the national stage for the stunt they pulled! This fact has caused me to change my perspective. After all, tons of bad publicity is still tons of publicity. I’m sure the outcome of the bear sex billboard was nothing short of a bunch of sales, a huge increase in brand recognition and of course, the final straw in securing their second deal with Rainier beer.

Was it Wrong?

So was it right or wrong? I’m not sure what the answer is to that question, but it definitely worked! That’s all that really matters. So I’ll tip my hat to Joel Barbour, who admittedly didn’t expect the billboard to stay up long and was just looking for the publicity. The bar has been raised, but we’ll continue climbing to reach it!

You might be wondering why I would write about our biggest competitor on our own site. The answer is simply because it is part of the PNW world. It’s a short take on a story that has already been told lots of times. Since we recently pulled down all of the Cloud 9 blog posts, this seems like not a bad way to kick off the new PNW Journey articles.

What Are Your Thoughts?

Do you think it crosses the line? Was it a smart move? Let us know what you think about this whole ordeal in the comments below.