Priceline sends Shatner’s Negotiator over a cliff

Bye Bye The Negoatator By LYNN ELBER, The Associated Press, Source: AJC.com

LOS ANGELES — William Shatner’s stalwart Capt. James T. Kirk died in the line of duty. Now the actor’s bargain-touting Priceline Negotiator is headed heroically to his final frontier.

In a new 30-second TV spot set to begin airing Monday, the Negotiator rescues panicked vacationers from a bus teetering on a bridge’s railing.

“Save yourselves — some money,” he says, handing his cellphone to a passenger as he and the bus tumble into a dry creek bed. A violent explosion, real and computer-generated, follows.

“I’m in grief mode,” a droll Shatner said by phone Wednesday. “It’s not the first time I’ve had an iconic character die off.”

He’s been a pitchman for Priceline for 14 years, five of those as the relentless Negotiator preaching the gospel of travel bargains. But an advertising change was needed to reflect the company’s broader strategy, said Christopher Soder, CEO of Priceline.com North America.

“The challenge is harder to get people’s attention than it used to be. … So we decided to do something really over the top to get the message across,” Soder said. The new spot will be on his company’s website and, he hinted, may be part of next month’s Super Bowl commercial extravaganza.

Shatner promoted Priceline as a site where travel prices are subject to bidding. But Priceline is also a set discount-price booking site for more than 200,000 hotels in 140 countries, an expanding service that is not widely known by consumers, Soder said.

The new direction makes sense, according to a marketing strategist.

“It’s a tough decision, but the bottom line is Priceline had to do it,” said Peter Sealey, adjunct professor at the Claremont Graduate University’s school of management. “They’re changing their business model from a name-your-price model to a fixed-price approach.”

Shatner’s Negotiator was just too good at representing the old approach, Sealey said.

“Had he been less effective, he could have been allowed to fade away,” he said. “I don’t know if I would have gone as far as the bus exploding.”

Shatner, whose Kirk arguably had a less memorable death in 1994’s “Star Trek: Generations,” is philosophical about the turn of events. He’s looking ahead to the debut next month on Broadway of “Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It,” his one-man show.

“It was a great run,” the Emmy-winning actor (“Boston Legal” and “The Practice”) said of the Priceline gig. But “if the management says this is the end, this is the end.”

Is it? Could the Negotiator be resurrected? Or might Shatner, who previously appeared as a troubadour in spots for the website, play another role for Priceline?

“I’m not going to speculate on future campaigns,” said the company’s Soder.

Great pitchmen have been born from the ashes before. Fast-food chain Jack in the Box’s commercials routinely feature “Jack,” a man wearing a version of the clown-faced symbol that the company dramatically blew up in 1980 to signal a menu change (“Waste him,” an elderly female customer said in the spot). Some Americans were upset by Jack’s demise.

Does Soder fear backlash from those fond of Shatner and the Negotiator?

“We certainly hope not. We had a great, long association with Mr. Shatner,” Soder said, adding hastily, “I didn’t mean to use the past tense. He’s still under contract with us.”

True, said Shatner, an indefatigable 80 years old. So whether they use him again or not, he said merrily, “I’m going to make them pay through the nose.”

ESO Network Sponsors

GEEK CHIC IS THE NEW … CHIC
COME TO THE GEEK SIDE. WE HAVE THE BEST SWAG

Support Us

A Dollar a month keeps us in orbit. Trust us it’s better that way.

Ways to Listen

Find Us Wherever Fine Podcasts are Found

Sign Up for the ESO Newsletter

WE HARDLY EVER SEND THEM OUT BUT WHEN WE DO THEY ARE AWESOME

ESO Network Archives

Archives

No matter where you go here you are

Follow the ESO Network

You didn't come this far to only come this far

Contact Us

    Remember any comment made today will be the tomorrow you worried about yesterday

    <-- see them in a pretty grid

    42 Cast
    The Best Saturdays of Our Lives
    Blurred Nerds
    But First, Let's Talk Nerdy
    Cigar Nerds
    The Con Guy
    Cosmic Pizza
    Dragon Con Report
    Drinking with Authors

    Most Recent Episodes

    Earth Station DCU
    Earth Station One
    Earth Station Trek
    Earth Station Who
    Epsilon Three
    Flopcast
    Metal Geeks
    Modern Musicology
    Monkeeing Around
    Monster Attack
    The Monster Scifi Show
    Soul Forge
    Thunder Talk
    The Watch-a-thon of Rassilon