Brian Lara bats for the wrong jeans
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     23 June 2009
In June 1994, the West Indian cricketer Brian Lara made a world record 501 not out for Warwickshire against Durham. This caused consternation in the jeans world. Lara had a sponsorship deal with Joe Bloggs Jeans, but had inadvertently given a great boost to a rival company by publicising the number associated with its most famous product (Levi’s 501).

Neither manufacturer was exactly delighted. Bloggs couldn’t bring out a ‘501’ jean and Levi Strauss couldn’t sign up the player to exploit his achievement. Lara’s agents were left to rue the fact that their client hadn’t scored one run more or fewer – the marketing possibilities would have been endless. Fortunately, Lara had made a test record 375 for the West Indies against England two months earlier and would go onto break it with a score of 400 just 10 years later, so he still provided them with commercially valuable numbers.