By Ronnie D. Satterfield
Staff Blogger
This post comes to you with a mouthful. Sorry, not sorry.
You see, there is a bag of Bojangles' new hand-breaded chicken sandwiches nearby, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. just left the room. He's gone, the Dale Jr. Download team left with him, and the Bojangles people are holding court in a conference room down the hall. They snapped a group photo in the newly-named Bojangles Studio, and they left.
So dammit, I got one. It's incredible.
Earlier the team announced it had sold the naming rights to the room from which this new employee writes to you. From this day forward Dirty Mo Media's studio shows -- namely The Dale Jr. Download and Door Bumper Clear -- will do their tapings in the Bojangles Studio. You are already familiar with the space as it appears continuously in social videos and content produced by Dirty Mo Media. But there will be branding differences, particularly the new Bojangles neon that lights up the back wall.
As for the biggest change, well, you'll have to take our word for it. It's the wonderful, magnificent smell of the south. Bags of hand-breaded chicken sandwiches, Cajun chicken filet biscuits, Bo-Tato rounds, seasoned fries, Bo-Berry biscuits and sweet tea overtake the room. The aroma paralizesssssssss me. That's when I realize Dirty Mo Media has made it. It can't get better than this. There is a sign at the top of the mountain, and it glows Bojangles. I'm sure of it.
Here is why this matters. Bojangles may be expanding in a big way (it plans to open 90 new stores across the country to go with its 760 already-existing ones), but it's a staple in the southeast . What's more, its home is in Charlotte, N.C., just down the road from Mooresville where the Bojangles Studio sits. No major brand or corporate entity does better at marketing homegrown, Carolina franchises than Bojangles. In fact, the Bojangles affiliation feels like the ultimate validator. Figure this -- Bojangles boasts a proud partnership with the NFL's Carolina Panthers, it recently announced a multi-year partnership with Charlotte FC, it reportedly has 75 area collegiate athletes signed to endorsement deals including a couple of Atlantic Coast Conference star quarterbacks, it has the naming rights to the famous Bojangles Coliseum, and now the restaurant chain has inked perhaps the most popular North Carolinian in Dale Earnhardt Jr. Talk about brand fits! This pairing is why one sports news site said "Dale Earnhardt Jr. has pulled off the most NASCAR-like feat a driver could ever want." Oh, that's right. Fancy a guess where NASCAR formed its roots?
"For what we are building at Dirty Mo Media and what Bojangles represents as a booming restaurant franchise, this is a perfect fit and an essential partnership for continued growth," Dale Jr. said in a press release.
So there you have it, Dirty Mo Media fans. It's Bo Time! Or maybe Dirty Bo Time if we're being funny. It's a partnership that is sure to pay off for two Carolina pillars. And it's one that is paying off already for a new blogger that is alone with a bag of chicken sandwiches.
-- Dirty Mo --
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