Toby’s Take – May 10, 2018

It’s the bi-coastal battle over a very famous name.  Dr. Dre is a west coast musician known for his albums, for discovering Eminem, and for Beats headphones.  He, however, is not a real doctor.  There is an actual Dr. Drai, an OB-GYN in Pennsylvania who appears on TV and writes books on sexual health.  The real Dr. Drai wants to trademark his name. The other Dr. Dre tired to block it, concerned that it could create brand confusion.   The US Trademark Office has sided with the real doctor, dismissing Dr. Dre’s challenge.  Dr. Drai responded by saying, “I was just appalled how someone would think that I wanted to be them and I actually went to medical school.”  Ouch.

Ricky Gervais has a new series coming to Netflix.  It’s a dark comedy called ‘After Life’.  It’s about a guy who had a perfect life, then his wife suddenly dies.  He considers ending it all but then decides to punish the world by sticking around and saying and doing whatever he likes…kind of like a Super Power.  So basically this is a show about Kanye West, then?   Production just got underway, Netflix has ordered six episodes.

Here’s a marketing idea that just makes sense.  In celebration of the upcoming “Star Wars” franchise film, “Solo: A Star Wars Story, Walt Disney Studios has teamed up with the Solo Cup Company to plaster the face of a young Han Solo on specially decorated packages of Solo cups and plates.  Ara’s planning on stocking up.  He won’t open any of the packages though, just in case they become collector’s items!