Wednesday, June 25  

Bloody Hell, That Didn't Work

Here's the oldest marketing trick people fall for every time.

If it gets attention, it must be good.

A couple of years ago here in Australia, we had a toruism ad that had a beautiful girl say to the camera "Where the bloody hell are you?"

The makers of the ad knew full well the ad would be banned in the market it was going for, but did it anyway. Their strategy was obviously the PR focus.

So the promoters got the ad banned (like they knew they would) and then kicked up a hell of a stink to get awareness of the ad.

But that doesn't mean it was a good ad.

The only measurement is this: Did it do what it was meant to?
Not "How many Ad Awards did it win?"

The ad didn't do it's job of attracting more tourists.

"The number of tourists visiting Australia from the three countries that had most exposure to the campaign - Japan, Germany and Britain - fell in the months following its launch."

So it's a rubbish ad.

And now it's being described as "rolled gold disaster".

Measure what you do. If it doesn't work try something different.

Cheers

Brendon