Homeless, but not hopeless
Homeless and hopeless
Hint: It's about marketing.
Yes, even at this level, the basics of marketing still work.
What is your impression of the first guy? The second guy?
What is the second guys message?
A bit hard to see, but it' s not the angle. He holds up a blank piece of cardboard.
See?
P.S. These photos prepared in anticipation of Becky's TED Talk. Her Video just went live.
No, this is not about greasing palms but about business giving priority service to customers willing to pay. Quite like first class seating. If you have more business than what feels comfortable, your service may already be exceptional. Or in demand. Just ask your customers if they are willing to accept your price for exceptionally fast service. And then delight them.
Image by Robbert van der Steeg. Was (i) inspired to find this on flickr by a similar image in Atlassian's Confluence 3.0 Webinar (video).
They recently raised corporate pricing for their flagship wiki by 50%.
In this _____ economy.
Guess why.
Today, Seth Godin wrote The myth of big salaries (it's all marketing).
Years ago, I heard from employees of now defunct DaimlerChrysler, why their boss Schrempp was so keen on merging Mercedes-Benz and Chrysler back then in 1998. They said his salary at the time was only some 5 Million $ a year while Iacocca got 50 Million.
Guess, sharing that story then worked as a kind of marketing, too. Even now it does.
For that story, got a reliable reference?
Three months after I blogged this story, they still sit on their vanishing laurels and advertise like a punch in the face.
Let's investigate what seems to be the logic behind it:
Oh, wait, what if the world recommends competing products?
Relax, watch and learn from it. Maybe your product is not the only or not the best solution for this potential customer. How do we know after just a single question-answer?
Explore examples behind the links that follow, (i) inspired by Twitter user @barconati who managed to find the asker of this question about an intranet wiki and twittered him directly, too, because mahalo.com has an elegant solution. They are @answers on Twitter.
FWIW: My personal thanks to twitter.
courtesy of failblog.org
Get 1 point for warm-up. Really no ad here?
courtesy of failblog.org
Add 1 point for reading, plus 1 bonus point for not doing what it says, that is better than ignoring.
courtesy of failblog.org
1 point if you feel you would have not stopped to take this photo had you passed it in the early '90s. 1 bonus point if you chuckled, laughed or agree this is remarkable only because of its underweary overtones. 1 extra point for reading up to here.
7 points Thanks for reading all the way, for ignoring the real ads in the funny ads and for not falling for them by clicking the distracting hyperlinks. However, you may want to check your math again.
6 points Remarkable, you got all points. You tend to be sincere in following written instructions to the letter. You are now ready to graduate and to ignore a real ad, really boring, so check it out.
2-5 points You spotted some, ignored some, this most likely means you take your pick, decide for yourself and ignore the rest. Way to go! You are part of the ongoing marketing revolution. If the ad and PR industry realized how many people think like you, they might consider the old ways a waste and shift their attention to include digital cupcakes and the Three things you need if you want more customers.
0-1 points You appear to be results-oriented, honest, good at ignoring everything above and come straight to the point. You may enjoy someone else's blog titled "I wrote this for you".
This is not about the Aircar and the claim it can be operated on energy cost of some $2 for 100 miles.
It is about a hybrid for which the advertising makes it difficult to gather interest, customers, or fans. Cut to the chase here.
Trying to verify the Aircar operating cost claim, I revisited a technology I had read about years ago: Quasiturbine, a compressed air motor. Browsed to Gizmag and its image gallery, adorned with an intriguing ad for a hybrid vehicle. Curious, I clicked it, only to go through a remarkably dumbfounding experience and end up sharing the spoils. Talk about a punch in the face.
Now, what does Chrysler mean, "...Responsibility of a Hybrid Vehicle"? Click on the ad above to follow my clicksteps, or read on for my take on it.
Click through and you land on the Chrysler main site, here a piece in its original size and glory: Page not found.
The click is paid for, why do they leave visitors stranded at Page not found? And this for the car named in the ad on gizmag.com! Too bad. Shift happens. They make you scan and search, so I note (here for all to see) these smarter marketers simply disrespect my time and interest. Broken.
Try again. Find the tiny link to the "Chrysler Aspen" and click through. See this 19MPG badge on the right?
Is that progress? In the early '90s you could rent a Ford Taurus for vacation, load it with suitcases and get 30MPG, at the pump. If you inflated the tires well and knew how to drive smoothly.
Ah, there it is. "Chrysler Aspen Hybrid" and click. Follow the story of how Chrysler managed to outsmart and outmarket a person with a genuine interest in their product - at a time they can ill afford wasting potential new car buyers.
After an "enter the lab" graphics to mask the load time (warning: bandwidth hog), a lady actor in a lab coat breezes around by video overlay to greet you, talk at you, then gets out of the way. Novelty? Yes, but a tad, um, obnoxious.
As you search those hard-to-read color buttons for hints to find the hybrid's MPG (its main selling point, no?) do not move the mouse. Said lady returns, inquiring "Hello? Are you still there?"
What? Pause from the fruitless search for the MPG spec, and she appears again, to shine that small flashlight at you through the camera (click on image for full size) and to knock the monitor glass... And more, just watch. Hilariously helpless. And, oh, don't move the mouse.
This is real, live, canned, almost cunning ... interruption marketing. A way to "manage customer experience" and make me feel like an idiot, a camel, breaking a potential future customer's last straw of interest. Outsmarted, outmanaged and outmarketed at http://www.chrysler.com/en/2009/aspen/hybrid/
They got a reader's interest, studying their ad in search for the hybrid's hidden MPG figure and then blow it by unhelpful interruption and arrogance. Hugh McLeod is right. Just leave me alone!
Illustration by Hugh McLeod, Gaping Void
I really feel like punching them in the face, and if enough people read and spread this, perhaps, yes we can.
At least a little bit? Check out the quick overlay video appearance at this mom&pop cycling specialty shop http://www.reversegearinc.com/
Or read The Communis Manifesto by .
Looks like a good time for the Chrysler outmarketers to study "Reality Check" by Guy Kawasaki.
On page 402 he quotes Sutton's dirty-dozen list of everyday asshole actions. I give this hybrid ad experience an 8 out of 12 orifices.
Recent Comments