I last blogged at the end of the year about product placement being shamelessly integrated into television programming. I’d like to shift gears now and focus on the actual TV commercials themselves. And, what day more than any other do people not only willingly watch commercials, but actually look forward to them? The Super Bowl! This year, one ad particularly stood out among the rest, but for all the wrong reasons.
“The people of Tibet are in trouble. Their very culture is in jeopardy.” Hearing these words, combined with images of snowy mountains and Tibetan children, my heart filled with hope, with the thought that a PSA could coexist with Pepsi and Budweiser ads in a new era of Super Bowl broadcasts. My hopes were quickly dashed, as the sweetness of this “Tibetan relief” ad abruptly turned sour. Just as the ad questions whether all hope is lost, actor Timothy Hutton appears onscreen at a restaurant and answers, “No, because they still whip up an amazing fish curry! And, since 200 of us bought at Groupon.com, we’re each getting $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15 at Himalayan Restaurant in Chicago.”
The ad for the online coupon company was intended to be absurd, just as a colleague of mine joked the other week about what great travel deals are now available for Egypt. However, in the case of the Groupon ad, the absurdity presumed a lack of seriousness in the whole matter and became a joke aimed at anyone who really cares about the struggles of Tibet. Social media users largely agree about the insensitive nature of this ad. Our client, Attensity, which provides text analytics solutions for Customer Experience Management, ran an analysis of social media conversations using their social media monitoring application, Attensity360. The hashtag “fail” came up on Twitter in extremely large volume in relation to this ad.
A similarly themed, yet largely successful, commercial from Chrysler also aired during the Super Bowl. The ad for the car manufacturer features close to two minutes worth of images of Detroit as a city in ruins, but ends with an uplifting “Imported from Detroit” message from hometown resident and rapper Eminem. Compared with the Groupon ad, the Chrysler piece works in inspiring viewers, rather than misleading or even offending them.
However, what all of these ads boil down to, as a fellow Sterlinger recently tweeted, is their effectiveness in moving the “sales needle.” While the Chrysler commercial moved audiences during the big game broadcast, the question arises, will it move sales? With its long running time, will the full ad even appear again on live TV, or will YouTube be its final resting place? Perhaps TV will see the ad again, but most likely just the last thirty seconds with Eminem intact. And, that may defeat the whole purpose and adversely affect sales, since the build-up with images of Detroit is arguably the most effective part.
On the other hand, Groupon has such a loyal fan base (myself included) that their ad, along with the other two in the series (one featuring an equally wild transition from the Brazilian rainforest to actress Elizabeth Hurley’s Brazilian wax), may not have such damaging results on sales. TV will likely not see these ads returning, but, if they do, I’d recommend eliminating the PSA portion and just keeping the last part of these ads where Groupon’s services are the focus. Perhaps, even a message could be added on where to donate at the very end of these ads. In fact, Groupon’s website for the campaign is already including areas to donate to charities related to the issues parodied. (Industry consultant/blogger Liz Strauss even constructs a detailed damage control plan for Groupon.)
To look more deeply into the lasting effect of the Groupon and Chrysler ads, Attensity ran further analysis on their flagship solution, Attensity Analyze. Out of 1,000 randomly selected tweets, 48 mentioned the possibility of a customer defection from Groupon as a result of the Tibet ad. As for the Chrysler ad, Attensity performed an analysis to see what kind of mileage the auto company might get from its “Detroit” ad. In another random sample of 1,000 tweets, 18 people (1.8%) said they would be interested in possibly buying a Chrysler. Unfortunately for Chrysler, 35 out of 1,000 (3.5%) mentioned that, although they loved the ad, they wouldn’t be buying a Chrysler unless things changed. So, only time will tell exactly how much these ads will affect sales and customer response.
Do you think that Groupon will likely be unfazed by this blunder, and our overtly PC society may actually end up quoting the ad in ten years? Or, will Groupon’s sales and brand loyalty be facing a more lasting effect, thanks to this ad? Either way, if their goal was to raise visibility, then MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
UPDATE: As of February 11, Andrew Mason, Groupon’s chief executive, has decided to pull the faux-PSA ads.
Photo credit: Oriholic Jared via Flickr
At first I thought the Elizabeth Hurley ad was serious, and my jaw dropped. I thought she was a completely inappropriate spokesperson. Even when I realized it was an ad for Groupon, I still wondered why they used her and thought idea was tasteless. I love satire, but this wasn't funny, just tacky. It doesn't make me want to use the service. Sure, it's got people buzzing, but for the wrong reason. Groupon must have paid a ton for the celebrity director and spokespersons -- not to mention the many millions for Super Bowl airtime -- but they'd have better spent the money on a new concenpt.
Timothy Huttton, you have a well-reviewed TV show with decent ratings. Did you really need the money?
Posted by: Lisa Hawes | February 08, 2011 at 12:58 PM