The Smiley Smile Message Board

There is a website:

http://www.kokomobrands.com/ (http://www.kokomobrands.com/)

"Kokomo Brands"

Looks like a business venture seeking capital and investors, centered around Mike Love and Kokomo, and branding it into various interests and markets centered around Mike and the Kokomo lifestyle theme. The whole website looks like a business pitch to get people on board.

Just curious what this is all about.

Any venture capitalists reading the board?  ;D

Hope it garners as much interest as the failed Vibe Room and his tanked Uhnleash The luHv. What a money grubber.  ::) ::)

So THIS is why there's a press conference?  :-D ::)




In all seriousness, though, it looks like he had a discussion with Jimmy Buffett. I can't say I'm a fan of this, or even the target demographic, but at least Mike's version of Margaritaville will have more vegetarian/vegan options for me to eat if I ever end up at one.

There's doubt Mike could think up sth. like this. He must be educated in this sphere, then again there's video courses, express classes etc. He could be advised to check them. *If* it's his idea.

I wonder how the Le Meridien chain will feel about their hotel in Bora Bora being used to plug Mikes resort (trademarked) ‘Club Kokomo Cove’?

http://www.northsouthtravel.com/le-meridien-bora-bora


Sounds like lawyers could be getting busy soon.

    W T F ? ?

    https://www.trademarkia.com/company-michael-e-love-4516721-page-1-2 (https://www.trademarkia.com/company-michael-e-love-4516721-page-1-2)

    Coffee, tea, rum, cocktail mixes, eyewear, fragrances, and: "Bleaching preparations and other substances for laundry use; cleaning, polishing, scouring and abrasive preparations; soaps; perfumery, essential oils, cosmetics, hair lotions; dentifrices."

OSD as pitchman? >:D

This was tried (albeit not in a tropical setting, etc.), *with* the actual Beach Boys branding, 26 years ago and presumably before too long failed, right?

(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee92/mbriev16/BB%20Cafe%2003_zps4lth7yqc.jpg)

Here's some video from the 1992 opening:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ejxXXFJE3Q

And you can still visit that location in Hermosa Beach now, by grabbing a slice of some Round Table Pizza!

(http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/large/43d3722a-2ef7-44b8-9b44-0198a92a618d.JPG)

My thoughts? Probably 30 years too late. Now back in the late 80's, I think the play would have been Kokomo time shares. The timeshare market was growing. Ironically, just yesterday on another board someone was mentioning that, at the time people were filing into travel agencies looking to fly to Kokomo! Creating Caribbean Kokomo destinations may have been temporarily lucrative, with an exit strategy of going public or getting swallowed up by a bigger resort chain. Brother Stephen was long gone by then, but he could have made this work.

Mike and Jimmy would have talked at the Capitol 4th event. But Buffetts success can't be duplicated. The Beach Boys brand doesn't have Parrotheads or Kiss Army followers that will shell out for any conceivable type of merchandise. It's actually probably the opposite. A divided fan base, half of whom loathe anything associated with Michael.

Let us all mourn that we'll never again be able to try to the totally-appropriately-named "Brian Wilson's Kokomo Platter."

Now I'm imagining a Brian-helmed restaurant serving "Mike Love's Smile Cornfield Platter."

This Kokomo Brands venture was on the books and the ball was rolling months before the July 4th concert.

And that restaurant shown via the menu photo was not the only attempt at similar branding by Mike - "Club Kokomo" was also tried and failed in 1997 as an attempt to launch a chain of theme restaurants.

The difference here is they seem to be fishing for investors for a wide-ranging "lifestyle" brand under the Kokomo theme. As mentioned...including personal care products, and a host of other products and services.

It's an ambitious attempt, looks like they're casting a very wide net to get people to invest on the strength of the name Kokomo.

Which leads me to ask, will John Phillips' estate get any percentages of royalties or licensing fees if any part of this venture does take off? Because as Melcher mentioned in an interview when Kokomo hit #1, it was John Phillips who named the song and put the initial song ideas and chords on tape.

Just to get the facts straight on that part of it.

I'm perplexed as to how Mike, who tours all year and brings in a ton of money, could be either too bored or so interested in making more money that they'd want to go for this "Kokomo" theme.

Hopefully investors will do their due diligence and look back at past "Kokomo"-related branding failures. And, as I mentioned, back in the 90s Mike could use the "Beach Boys" name for such projects, whereas now he can't.

The Beach Boys have generally just not had the branding success that the Beatles or even Jimmy Buffett have had, for whatever reason. But hey, they did make a BRI-approved singing toothbrush!

(https://dtpmhvbsmffsz.cloudfront.net/posts/2016/10/06/57f7329abcd4a71aab0105ba/m_57f7329abcd4a71aab0105bb.jpg)

And yes, "Music in Your Mouth" absolutely *was* the working title for "Unleash the Love".......

    I'm still SMH. Mike thinks there's be demand for Kokomo® brand laundry detergent and toothpaste??

And Steve would have skimmed the profits off the top for sure.

Just looking at the first link. A very poor quality copy of the Dan Rather interview where incidentally, Mike looked the worse I have ever known him to look. Lifted pictures of a faceless restaurant, clothing store etc. Amateur hour.

Again, using a picture of an established resort to promote your own brand. Mike took Brian to court over his image being used for a newspaper giveaway. Pot/ kettle/ black.

The list of themed bars and restaurants failing is extremely long. I doubt this will even get out of the gate.

Kokomo brand amyl nitrate....It’s Landy tested and approved!

Wow, I didn't even notice how amateurish the website is. The *short* clip of the Rather interview isn't even a direct copy; it appears to be a cell phone video aimed at a monitor playing it back. *And*, the video clip is hosted on Dropbox instead of on the website itself. It includes one random Dropbox comment (maybe from the person who posted it?) from nine months ago mentioning the interview was an hour long and they just recorded that one little segment.

(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/37804265_1846439578728808_4570834363977039872_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=4d04d2b41250bf9bcd7d912bde6359af&oe=5BDE1466)

http://www.bailiwickventures.com/#portfolio (http://www.bailiwickventures.com/#portfolio)

(https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/37858617_1846277492078350_8109804870904578048_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=c3a3b46e3e0ad2c21c2dac7d0253775d&oe=5BDEA459)

Gene Simmons will be jealous.

If Brian Wilson's name was gonna be attached to some sort of "Kokomo" food product, it should have been a food dish of Spanish origin, as a nod to the only version of the song Brian sings on  :lol

Next up, Kokomo Sunscreen.

https://youtu.be/rlJaGMLZjrg

That “Mike Love tribute shirt” is literally just a shirt. What in sh*t is this?

I noticed that too. It's a cel phone video of a television screen playing the interview. Just put aside any talk of bashing or bias and the like, and looking at the presentation itself, it's amateurish although the web design itself is pretty sleek and modern looking on first click (and that's the only click that matters if this is the sales package for investors). If they can't score the rights to use the actual Dan Rather video clip for whatever reason to market this venture, then find another video to embed. Generally investors are wooed by the quality and flash of a presentation like this.

I don't know how this passed muster.

Nor as mentioned does it look good to copy and paste another corporate hotel chain's marketing photo of their cabana/grotto/getaway design to imply that's what Club Kokomo will look like. Not wanting to go too deep into those areas, unless permission as granted by that other corporation or unless that specific hotel's layout was the product of the Club Kokomo team, you just can't copy and paste advertising images that way to use as your own.

Anyway...

I don't understand that advertising copy for the brand. It, along with some of the text of the website, either implies or states outright that ownership of the song Kokomo belongs to Mike Love.

The reasons why that is not accurate are many, but boil it down to the fact that the song was a John Phillips idea and composition (cowritten with Scott McKenzie) that Mike and Terry Melcher reworked. It is not Mike's song.

And beyond that, it is and was a Beach Boys song and #1 hit that most people know, a reworked version of a John Phillips release. Not a Mike Love release. Carl sang on the song as much as Mike did. John Phillips had the initial concept and wrote more of the song along with the other two co-writers than Mike.

Any artist can brand and market anything they choose to put on the market, but this entire venture hinges on the notion that Kokomo somehow belongs to Mike, along with all related imagery and "lifestyle" elements contained in the song. It's just not accurate.

Just a lot more reasons to laugh at this crumb who's taking the legacy down to sewer level. REVOKE THE LICENSE NOW!!!!!  >:D >:D >:D

Oh, good grief, I don't see anything to get upset about. It's just Mike being Mike.

Even setting aside the resolution/quality of the Rather interview clip, it should be pretty telling to potential investors that Mike couldn't be bothered to record a unique, new, exclusive two-minute video pitch for his OWN company/venture.

Geez, even just YouTube links to popular songs would seem to be a better/easier sell than the haggard interview he did with Dan Rather.

HeyJude, is that from your own collection? It is amAzing! When is this from and were there other songs? 

On a more serious note, I often wonder why there hasn't been a bigger marketing push for BB merchandise in the way that the Beatles, Zeppelin etc...have done. Think about stores like Hot Topic, FYE, even Target - you can always find fairly generic t-shirts with the Stones' mouth logo, Zeppeling shirts, Bob Marley, so on but I guarantee you will NEVER find a BB shirt. Why is that? They're certainly as much of a classic band as any of the others, and God knows there can't be any worry about "diluting the brand". So what gives, any thoughts?

Re: the toothbrush, no, definitely not in my collection. I just remembered seeing it YEARS ago, and apparently it's still around on eBay and the like. I'm guessing that's where the pic came from.

I think the time for Beach Boys merchandise has largely passed. No way it'll be put in a Hot Topic (nor would it sell if it was put in there). I'm not saying like a single "Pet Sounds" or "Smile" shirt is 100% impossible. But even most "classic rock" bands have little placement in stores like that now. Not even much Beatles. It's mostly Pop culture stuff (Harry Potter, Star Wars, Funko Pop figures), and overpriced shirts and body jewelry.

I suppose BB merch would have a bit more interest if found in general stores like Target. But I sense they don't sell well even in those venues. Target had that exclusive boxed set for the "That's Why God Made the Radio" single that included the 45 single and a "50th" t-shirt; I didn't see that flying off shelves.

The merch does move quite a bit at concerts, and I'm guessing that (and adjoining "web stores" for tour merch) is enough for the principals of the band.

We've seen a few other weird retro 80s BB shirts sold at higher end boutique sort of stores (Urban Outfitters-type places), but those fly under the radar even among BB fans. Not sure a 1985 promo shot of the Beach Boys has reached critical mass as far as pop culture nostalgia.

But yeah, I'm curious how much BRI has been trying in the past few decades to get BB merch in mainstream outlets, and other venues outside of tour merch stands.

That is a good point, and seriously, is Mike so busy touring that he couldn't record an exclusive, personalized video message for potential investors and customers on a site that has not only his name on it, but a brand which is being marketed on Mike's celebrity and image? And that's beyond even getting a first-generation copy of the Rather interview secured and licensed to use like this in a commercial venture versus someone aiming a phone at a TV monitor and capturing the video. Not to mention clipping another hotel chain's advertising photo and pasting it on the site.

Holy cow, it just makes no sense. If you put your name on a brand, and add in what fans have read and been told about Mike being in control of every aspect of his career, one would think some element of quality control would be a factor.

I could be snarky and say I wonder if this was the "sloppy" work of some hapless intern or low-level office staffer to blame as suggested with past online advertising snafus.

Why the f does Mike think "Kokomo" is a lasting representation of The Beach Boys' "brand"? It's like middle aged Florida vibes, compared to the '60s California cool of the actual Beach Boys' appeal to the masses.

I'm guessing because Mike's three co-writers are deceased, as is his fellow bandmate Carl who shared the most prominent lead vocals on the track so no one can comment in the present on how it really developed, it's the success Mike can hang his hat on and try to shape the perception that it's his tune. The true California cool sounds that created an entire mythology - Mike has to both share and concede credit for that to others. "Mike's a genius too" I think someone(s) have tried to say. Sure.

To me, it's the same mindset that takes "Forever" out of Dennis' legacy and puts it into a Full House and Uncle Jesse's wedding context to highlight John Stamos at shows. I saw that element as soon as Mike took the Forever video out of the live shows. And in that case, I even think John Stamos actually respects the song as Dennis' song more than Mike.

But I digress.

I still can't believe the attempt to put ownership of Kokomo into Mike's hands, since it is a John Phillips song that *The Beach Boys* had a hit with, but somehow we're now supposed to think it's Mike's tune.

Yeh it's weird ... It's a John Phillips, etc co-write ... just like most of his other hits are B. Wilson co-writes. I'm not even sure he's attempting to inflate his association with the song as much as ... well, he seems to *prefer* the Florida vibe/Kokomo culture vs. the actual BB/California culture. If only Mike loved the Wild Honey record (equally his creation as much as "Kokomo" is ha) as much as he loves "Kokomo", then we'd have world peace.

I'd suggest if you read through the "Kokomo Brands" literature and that website, Mike and the others involved are pinning the entire business venture on people associating Mike Love with Kokomo and Kokomo's success. If Mike were a solo act like Jimmy Buffett and someone wanted to do what Jimmy did with the branding and restaurants and beer...it would make sense. It's Jimmy Buffett's whole scene, the tropical island late-middle-aged barefoot pirate schtick warm-climate vibes and all of that. Jimmy did that in his songs and his fans picked it up to turn it into a sub-genre of fandom as Parrotheads.

But the whole notion of hinging a brand or a product line on Mike Love and "Kokomo" makes it necessary for people to connect Mike Love with creating and being responsible for the success of Kokomo, and the facts of how that song came together doesn't support that connection. It was a John Phillips/Scott McKenzie song in origin, and it was a "Beach Boys" #1 hit.

At the end of the day Buffet has the market locked in already. Mikes proposing to dilute and confuse the same market and we know he doesn’t like that don’t we.  ::)

Well, I hope Mr. Love is successful in this business venture. I'm in favor of whatever it would take to make him happy; and I hope his ego gets what it needs, because he seems pretty insecure about the public perception of him as just "the guy with the hat that sings the surf and turf songs for the BB's".
So Mike, when you gonna dazzle us with another pop classic like "Kokomo"? We've been waiting......waiting 30 years for another.