A friend and i were discussing the misfiring branding schemes of his company recently.
The company had employed several different ad agencies to try and create a buzz for the business, using a variety of media and promotion styles to little avail.
Halfway through the conversation, I hit upon the solution.
What you need, I said, is a sock puppet.
Hear me out. Even if you hate animals, if someone asks you where you can buy dog chow or cat treats, chances are pretty darngood you’ll say – not Petco, not Petsmart – but Pets.com, if only because that charismatic puppet is ingrained into your brain.
The Pets.com Sock Puppet – yup, that’s his name – is now so popular and successful he’s getting interviewed (not talked about, interviewed) on shows like “Good Morning America.” He works not only because he’s funny but because he gets the simple point across that this is a fun Web site where you can buy stuff for pets. And the tag line on all the spots – “Pets.com, because pets can’t drive” – gets the point home that this is a no-fuss, no-muss way to get your four-legged or feathered friends’ essentials.
Sure, it’s an easy concept: Come up with an idea that cleverly conveys who you are and what you sell. But, as many columnists (such as our own esteemed Herschell Gordon Lewis) and consumers have lamented, many dot-coms haven’t grasped it yet.
Some are getting closer – or are they?
ARRRRGH!
I recently saw a print spread for Lucy.com. As the late, great Charles M. Schulz has been in my thoughts recently, I immediately thought this was a shrine to the Peanuts character. But the Madonnaesque (the original, not the Material Girl) picture of a woman praying, surrounded by dozens of long-stemmed roses, quickly dispelled that notion. Clearly, she couldn’t pull a football away from anyone.
I read the text around the picture’s border – I will not rest until all the women of the world look great, feel great and are happy with themselves at all times – and still had no idea what I was looking at. Along the bottom of the spread was an army of vaguely surly looking athletic women. Perhaps the site is the online headquarters for an aerobics worshipping cult?
At this point, I started to read the lengthy text on the right hand page of the spread and surmised – correctly, finally – that this is a site for workout wear. But I only got that when I got close to the end of the text. I was amused – and a bit intrigued – by the prose.
The ad did pique my curiosity enough to get me to visit the site, which I quickly realized wasn’t for me. (I’ll stick to my old battered T-shirts and sweats, thanks.)
Reading Is Fun
But I wondered how many other readers would get far enough to make that decision for themselves. I’m the type who reads anything and everything voraciously – most consumers, especially when they’re looking at advertising, aren’t going to get that far if they don’t know early on what’s in it for them.
Turn on your television right now and you’re bound to find at least one ad for a Web site that will make absolutely no sense. What are they selling? Why would I want it? Who cares?
You should, if part of your ad dollars are going toward high stakes branding/DR hybrid media spending.
Off the top of my head, I could name several dot-com DR spots I’ve seen that I think are cool. Could I name the products or companies they promoted? Nope. Have I been to their sites? Obviously not. Remember kids, almost only counts in horseshoes. If someone almost visits your site, it means they didn’t.
So here’s to more sock puppets.
So what if pets can’t drive? They can’t order online either – although if they could, it would explain all those odd tuna-related purchases on my credit card last month.
Network
