It was big news back in the beginning of October of 2008 when Coca-Cola announced that they had singed their first official spokesperson for their Full Throttle Energy Drink….Outkast’s Big Boi. He had signed a promotional deal with the beverage company that gave him millions of dollars in media impressions and tour exposure for his Sir Lucious Left Foot album that was originally supposed to release in late October of 2008. It sounded perfect. Big Boi would be the official spokesperson for Full Throttle’s branded “FURY” energy drink and give the brand a much needed lift with the urban lifestyle demographic. In return, Full Throttle would front the costs for a tour and promotional support. But then a funny thing happened. The album got delayed. The tour got delayed. Then the album got delayed again due to label issues. And again.
My new album Sir Lucious Left Foot embodies the energy of Full Throttle Fury, where I feel like the body of work I’ve created on this CD will hopefully motivate my fans even more with its high energy and conscious lyrics as I’ve always created in my music,” stated Big Boi at the time of announcement.
As you Big Boi fans know, Sir Lucious Left Foot finally released on July 6th and debuted third on the Billboard charts with no promotional support from Full Throttle and no tour sponsorship. The reason? Simple enough. Coca-Cola was set on ramping up their marketing efforts for the FURY brand in the fourth quarter of 2008 and as the album kept getting bogged down in delays, Coca-Cola finally decided to go in a different marketing direction. By the time Sir Lucious Left Foot was set for release, almost a year and half after the deal, the entire FURY brand was shut down. Full Throttle has veered away from going “urban” and now focuses on action sports with multiple car and truck racing promotions. So there you go. A shame. Big Boi could have done some cool/funky things with the brand. Let’s hope he gets back on his right foot and signs another promo deal soon.
