ESL Podcast 540 – Promoting a New Product

Zoila: I haven’t seen you around lately. What have you been up to?

Leo: My business partners and I have been putting the final touches on our new line of energy drinks.

Zoila: Really? I didn’t even know that you were in the beverage¹ business.

Leo: Yeah, we’ve branched out into a few other areas. We’re going to start promoting the new drinks very soon. We’re working with an advertising² agency and we’ll start with sponsoring a couple of sporting events.

Zoila: Wow, when am I going to start seeing ads on TV?

Leo: I don’t think we’re going to go that route just yet.

Zoila: Are you taking the new products to trade shows?

Leo: No, no trade shows for us. We’re working on product placement in some music videos and maybe a TV show or two.

Zoila: That’s great. What about tie-ins with other products or with a movie? I see those everywhere.

Leo: We’re considering it. We’re working on a couple of endorsement⁴ deals right now. Once we have some celebrities⁵ on board, we’ll do even more.

Zoila: It would be great if you could get Jeff McQuillan to endorse³ your products. Everybody knows he’s the greatest baseball player who ever lived. With him plugging your energy drinks, sales will go through the roof.

Leo: Yeah, but I think we’d be shooting too high. We might have to settle for someone a little less famous – like David Beckham or Lance Armstrong.


Script by Dr. Lucy Tse

1 beverage   

n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料

参考例句：

• The beverage is often colored with caramel.这种饮料常用焦糖染色。
• Beer is a beverage of the remotest time.啤酒是一种最古老的饮料。

2 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

3 endorse   

vt.(支票、汇票等)背书，背署；批注；同意

参考例句：

• No one is foolish enough to endorse it.没有哪个人会傻得赞成它。
• I fully endorse your opinions on this subject.我完全拥护你对此课题的主张。

4 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

5 celebrities   

n.（尤指娱乐界的）名人( celebrity的名词复数 )；名流；名声；名誉

参考例句：

• He only invited A-list celebrities to his parties. 他只邀请头等名流参加他的聚会。
• a TV chat show full of B-list celebrities 由众多二流人物参加的电视访谈节目