Blunder #1 – Publicity Pitfall
The SuperBowl presents the perfect opportunity for promotion and publicity campaigns. Their point is to raise awareness and generate excitement about your products, not to lose $7 million as happened this year with a Houston furniture store. Gallery Furniture offered customers their money back from furniture delivered before SuperBowl Sunday on orders or $6,000 or more if the Seattle Seahawks were victorious. Though few predicted Peyton Manning to fail, it’s not a good idea to initiate a potentially costly promotion without insurance nor is it wise to bet against the underdog. Well we all know how the 2014 game ended and the furniture store ended up as the biggest loser to the tune of about the cost of 2 SuperBowl commercial ads. Their CEO, Jim McIngvale, is trying to be positive:
We already have people sending us videos of them jumping up and down celebrating, so I have no doubt that what we will lose is already worth it to our business.
Don’t be a victim of publicity pitfalls. Calculate the odds and be sure to buy an insurance policy if the loss will represent a significant chunk of revenue as it did in this case.
Blunder #2 – Advertising Floundering
In the world of retail, Presidents’ Day is also known as a prime “sale” day. In the case of Groupon, they announced their big Presidents’ Day sale this year via a press release and all sorts of hoopla. It made mention of their $10 off coupon to honor one our greatest Presidents who is featured on the $10 bill – Alexander Hamilton. A quick trip to elementary school history class reveals a big faux pas: Alexander Hamilton was the Secretary of the Treasury, never POTUS. He was not born in the United States and he is not one of the 43 men honored on the third Monday in February. (Note: Grover Cleveland was 22 and 24.) Their spokesperson said it was all a joke and of course they knew he wasn’t a president.
Don’t be a victim of advertising floundering. Do your research up front and if you get busted, fess up. It sounds ridiculous to say it was all just a big lol and it’s insulting to your customers to pretend they can’t take a joke.
From the Cutting Room Floor – Celebrity Blooper
We’ve cautioned you in past posts about using celebrity spokespeople. Here’s an unprepared pitchman, Orson Welles, whose ad almost didn’t make it past the cutting room floor.
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