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Tambourine Man, Redux
Kirby's Korner · November 24, 2000

Recently, nearly every media outlet in the known universe has thought itself very clever as it played out some variation of a "Beam Me Up, Scotty" headline following priceline.com's precipitous stock decline -- referring, of course, to priceline spokesman and former Starship Enterprise captain James T. -- err, scratch that -- William Shatner. Only Ticked was brave enough to warn readers of a far more serious threat to galaxy-wide peace: Shatner's "singing" career.

Join us now for a holiday season rerun examining a rather clever ad campaign. And, for the record, to say I hold Shatner's singing responsible for priceline's decline would be both unfair and untrue.

Much has changed since March, when this column first appeared. Priceline isn't in the grocery business anymore -- or in much of anything outside travel. And, as this column is posted, the stock price has dipped to a little over $2 per share.

I hope Capt. Kirk had the opportunity to cash in a few of his options.

It's come to this: Captain Kirk is pushing breakfast cereal.

You may be one of the lucky ones who has to ask: "What does this have to do with travel?" If so, you've not yet heard the melodious tones of one William Shatner as he sings the praises of the travel offerings at priceline.com.

Ten television commercials are planned for the series. The fifth, featuring a promotion for priceline's hotel product, debuted a month ago.

You can get a taste of the commercials by downloading the first four here. (Make sure you tell all your Trekker friends to come to this page for a link to the Shatner commercials; Ticked.com could use the hits.)

More recently, Shatner has been pushing priceline's grocery business (which actually is run by an affiliated company, but that may be more than you want to know about the business model). We see smiling faces of happy customers, and an obviously well-fed William Shatner, telling us about the virtues of saving money by buying groceries through priceline.com.

He doesn't sing in these ads.

In the travel services ads, where he does sing, Bill is obviously having fun. (His closest fans get to call him Bill.) He belts out, say, "Two Tickets to Paradise," pumping his arm, using a breathy whisper at times, and breaking into the song to explain the advantages of buying at priceline.

The commercials have attracted a lot of attention and gotten the priceline name before the public. Hey, they got this column written, didn't they?

The problem is that Shatner isn't known for his singing. Some think, in fact, he is responsible for the single worst album of the rock era, 1968's The Transformed Man. If you don't believe me, listen to the album yourself at Shatnerrocks.com (formerly the Captain James T. Kirk Singalong Site).

I've never owned the album -- I've heard it -- but I own the Rhino Records compilation Golden Throats, which features two of Transformed Man's highlights (or possibly lowlights), "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." You owe it to yourself to dig these gems up.

Priceline was aware of Shatner's musical prowess when it started the rock campaign. The day after I saw the first commercial, jaw agape in disbelief, I called a priceline spokesman.

"You know he has an album out already, don't you?"

"Ummm . . . yes. I've heard it."

"And you're aware of its reputation?"

"The advertising agency made sure we knew about it before we signed off on the campaign," Mr. priceline replied.

"And you went ahead anyway?"

"It just goes to show that Mr. Shatner has a sense of humor," he said.

That, at least, it does.

Shatner's been with priceline since it launched. And he just signed on for another two years. Priceline officials talk of him as the perfect spokesman for a new way to buy and sell -- though I don't remember ever seeing offers for dilithium crystals submitted via communicator.

He hasn't done it out of the goodness of his heart. It would be impossible to track down all financial dealings between priceline and Shatner, but in April 1998 he received a no-cost warrant for 100,000 shares of stock, redeemable until 2003.

Priceline stock now trades around $70 per share, down from an April 1998 high of $165.

Priceline obviously thinks the deal is worth it. Shatner does, too. And the impact of his commercials is stronger than any of the dot-com ads we saw during the last Super Bowl.

So let's launch a 21-phaser salute to one of the most effective and inventive, if irritating, travel ad campaigns any of us have seen.

(There are more Shatner Web sites around than you can shake a tribble at. Shatner has his own, William Shatner.com. Shatner.com is the home of the Official Worldwide Fan Club. You can enjoy the William Shatner Experience. And be sure to check out the William Shatner Acting Simulator.)

David Kirby is the Senior Editor at dot-com startup iJET Travel Intelligence and the founding editor of Interactive Travel Report. His column appears on Friday. You can reach him at david@ticked.com. He likes Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks better.