Ridiculous Marketing
Seth Godin’s blog is really good, he looks at marketing from a common sense consumer perspective. So I thought of him today when I saw what can only be described as the least effective form of advertising I’ve ever seen.
I’d parked my car on the street and as I went out to run, I saw I had a ticket. Screaming obscenities, I walked over to look at and found that it wasn’t a ticket. It was a yellow advertisement for a sandwich shop purposely placed face down to trick me, which I promptly tore up and threw on the ground.
Clearly somewhere along the line things went horribly, horribly wrong. No such thing as bad PR right? Let’s make an exception here. What do you gain by making your customer feel like a jackass? What good is it to associate your name with fear and anger? Why would I ever want to stop by and get a sub-sandwich at a place that goes around trying to fuck with me?
This is a bit of a litmus test that I think more marketers ought to use. What good is getting noticed if you have to manipulate or piss someone off to do it? For instance, you might be hoping to get someone to read an email you’ve written. Well, you could employ some less than ethical techniques to ensure its opening–URGENT, or RE: or whatever. But why bother if you can’t deliver? Why try so hard to make sure I check out your flier, if I am going to be angry shortly there after.
The point is this: More than anything else, the customer wants to feel RESPECTED. That’s why transparency is so huge right now, people are tired of feeling worked over. So it seems to me that you gain more by having a few pleased and happy customers then a whole bunch of pissed off ones.
I’d like to hear your guys’ most ridiculous stories about bad marketing. Another marketing tip is to make sure you have the best hosting for your website, so take a look at reviews like this 000webhost review.
How about a similar advertisement being placed on your car in a school parking lot? A: No cop is going to give any tickets in that lot, B: Less than half of the students would even consider getting their nails done at Lakeisha’s Nail Salon, and C: The (public) school’s printer stamp was on every paper, infuriating me because I was sure I was paying for it with a tax somehow.
And beside the marketing, don’t you feel pissed off that someone besides the police touched your car? Carjackers should start carrying leaflets, that way they could legitimately get a good look inside the car…
Pop-ups, flash ads that make noise or follow your screen.
I can’t think of any marketing campaign more ridiculous than new coke. Sure, it got them more sales in the long run after they brought back classic coke but to go that far to pretty just say out loud “our product is indeed worse than pepsi” is retarded beyond belief.
A personal example: I feel that nearly brand new websites with absolutely nothing in terms of quality content, compared to the A-list bloggers, already beginning with a lot of Ad-sense/Kontera ads/Donate features are screwing themselves. New readers such as myself who find that the content don’t nearly meet expectations for a donation will think that the blogger is too arrogant and not at all that smart. Sort of like the opposite of how Tucker’s doing with avoiding the mainstream right now until Rudius can be considered beyond a shadow of a doubt of having nearly always the highest level of quality in their content.
On that note what is up with “drinking for two”? A bit of a disconnect in terms of quality compared to the rest of Rudius’s material I think and I’m guessing I’m not alone in with this thinking.
Wasn’t New Coke like 20 years ago? And really, what was so bad about it? If had been a hit I bet we’d be sitting here discussing how Coke rebranded themselves so expertly. There is a difference between bad and not successful. The flier thing was BAD, Coke’s just didn’t work.
But you’re right about bloggers and advertising. Very much so. Although as far as DFT goes, that site is fucking hilarous.
The same type of idea, a local convenience store put an advertisement that looks like a 20$ bill on the sidewalk and on the other side is the store’s name. I went from excited “Free beer” to pissed off in three seconds flat. I’ve never shopped there.
This one doesn’t piss me off, but it does make me wonder. At a bar I frequent there’s a poster above one of the urinals with a pretty cool / slightly weird picture and under the picture is a URL. That’s it, just this picture and the URL. Every time I’m standing there taking a piss, I think “man, I should check this out” and I never do because by the time I leave the bar, I’m either drunk or headed to another bar to get drunk. I can’t think of a worse placement for an advertisement.
I’ve been sitting here trying to think of what the URL is and I’ve got no idea what it is. I wonder if they’ve generated even one hit from this advertisement.
On the trip home from college I was picked up the local newspaper (normally I just read USA Today/New York Times) while reading an article about the local spring parade or whatever, the article had product placement…yeah you read right just like today for tv where the main character might drink coke “wink wink” this reporter was throwing out random props to products
ex.) “Mayor Friengar has planned the event for now his 10th year, the Coke in his hand was sure to satisfy his thirst”
I destroyed that newspaper in a blind rage, getting many a strange look from those with me on the train..yeah well fuck Amtrak too
Did you really scream obscenities after discovering some poorly-placed ad, Ryan?
On topic, I recently went to the gym on campus and noticed advertisements in the bathroom stalls. These weren’t even bumper stickers or sharpied messages, but actual advertisements. My question is, why would someone want to associate their product with defecation?
I scream obscenities at a lot of things, and yes faux-ticket advertisements are one of them.
Can we all agree that advertising in the bathroom is pretty retarded?
Advertising in the bathroom is pretty retarded for most products…one would think some product would not mind being associated with defecation..a plummer maybe??
Also when obscenities are needed when you ruin something like a newspaper or one’s day by posing as a ticket.
The marketing you refer to with the fake ticket is based on the sleeper effect. Basically, the deli places the flyer on your car, but makes it look like a ticket to ensure that you will look at it. Even though you initially pair the name of the deli with negative affect (anger), over time most people (obviously not you) will forget WHY they know the name of the deli and focus instead on the fact that they know it. And, psychology tells us, knowing = liking = increased foot traffic.