When it Comes to Marketing, Name Recognition Rules: Tom Cruise Vs. Tom Kruse

I’m thinking of changing my name to Angelina Julie, or maybe even Brad Pit. Once I do this I’m going to start a scooter manufacturing company geared toward the elderly. Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “that sounds like the worst idea I have heard. I don’t know you, but you’re fucking crazy.” Ha, crazy like a fox, but that’s not the point. The point is that I’ve stumbled upon a marketing idea that is so super, it’s as subtle as it is ingenious, it’s almost majestic. I recently watched an infomercial starring a brilliant man named Tom Kruse who has done just as I described above and, as far as I know, Tom Kruse is doing just fine.

Tom Kruse is the creator of Hoveraound, a mobility scooter for the elderly. That’s right, I said Tom Kruse, and he shouldn’t be confused with that actor guy either, the Tom who spells his last name Cruise. Though, I don’t know how you could confuse Tom Cruise with Tom Kruse anyway, unless of course you were blind. Tom Cruise is a national icon and one of our country’s biggest stars. Tom Kruse is an overweight, scooter company owner. The tip of his chin is connected to his nipples; he’s not a good-looking dude.

But he is smart. How smart you ask? Smart enough to put his ugly mug front and center in his infomercials. Now if his name were Bob McMullen, this would have been a horrible idea. But it’s not, his name is Tom Kruse and in the world of subliminal advertising, it may as well be spelled Tom Cruise. If an old person, heck, any person for that matter, has to choose between a mechanical scooter being hawked by a guy named Chip Lewis and a guy named Tom Kruse, who do you think they’re going to choose?

Now, on the surface, this is a stupid article. But that’s the thing about surfaces, there’s usually something beneath them. I looked into the matter and it turns out there are three other Tom Kruse’s out there. There’s Tom Kruse, Californian winemaker, he’s been running his vineyards since the early 70’s. And then there’s Tom Kruse, the architect who’s spent the last decade in Nicaragua and Bolivia, working as an activist. Also, Tom Kruse, the Australian bushman is the focus of a documentary called “Last Mail from Birdsville”.

I started to wonder what Tom Cruise must think of these “wannabes”, but then I got to some serious pondering. Perhaps, Kruse is just a common last name. See, beneath the surface, you got to look man. You’ve got to dig if you want to be a successful journalist. I learned that today.