Truth is, most promotion offerings barely cut it. Between weak incentives and strong caveats, watered messages and dry creative, the Truth Tribunal wades through wads of stuff every month that is, at best, pedestrian. Not to mention poorly targeted.
Industry insiders tell us that the key factors contributing to promotional dreck include short timetables, pressured budgets, and management disinterest. But the foremost creativity killer is the committee – that coven of wizened bureaucrats who read a “Bloody Truth” or two and are therefore self-proclaimed experts – empowered to declare what won’t work and why. A tribal meeting in which anyone can say no, but no one can say yes.
Little wonder that we have promotions created by eager young aggressors with no time, no money, and no chance of their ideas surviving intact.
So this month, kudos go out to a few brands for promotions which are uniquely creative and yet were still able to endure their respective committees. Then, just to be insolent, we convened our own committee, and granted it pooh-pooh power! This in order to give you, dear reader, the opportunity to imagine what those ideas might have faced.
Wallet Wallop: GE Financial Services apparently needed to break through the dot-com clutter to get people introduced to their Web site. So they dropped thousands of wallets on the unsuspecting streets of major cities. People who picked them up could keep the special savings inside – which included a game ticket featuring winnings of up to $100,000. Consumers who checked the site also found such un-GE activities as a “WalletCam” letting them peep at raw voyeur videos of wallet finders in action. Ve-ry kewl. Committee Sez: “This is an inappropriate idea because it is not in keeping with our staid image. Plus we have a very narrow target audience and, lord knows, just about anyone could find one of these wallets!”
Win Spin: Wisk detergent offered a unique on-pack peel-off “Wash & Win” sweeps to generate FSI awareness and in-store shelf presence. Consumers who bought the product and peeled off the entry ticket discovered that they had to throw it in the washer to unveil the winning message. Talk about product involvement! Committee Sez: “This will not work because the extra effort required will discourage consumer participation.”
Plastic Cars: American Express Platinum Card negotiated a first-ever deal with Lexus to create “Platinum Edition” automobiles. Consumers who are driven by the need to look/feel special can pay a couple of grand more for a few extra toys, plus earn 35,000 AmEx points. And why shouldn’t they? Committee Sez: “This is a bad idea, because it flaunts a key weakness of our card: Consumers can’t actually use it to purchase a car!”
Warrior Warrantee: Biztravel.com stopped readers with the headline: “Your Flight Arrives on Time or We Pay You Back.” This reverse-incentive program tied to airline performance is bound to tickle the fancy of haggard Road Warriors in search of revenge. Committee Sez: “This is a dangerous idea, perhaps even fiscally irresponsible – what if flight delays exceed our projections?!?”
That’s the truth
OfficeMax delivered a shopping bag as a newspaper insert, with the headline: “20% Off Everything you can fit inside this bag.” It is a simple, unique, arresting concept – one that almost propels shoppers to the store. Right? Oh no.
This big idea clearly didn’t survive the committee. Half of one side of the bag is devoted to a litany of all the things excluded from the offer – a list obviously dictated by a cadre of conferencing category managers empowered to act as a committee.
Imagine what max fun cashiers will have at check-out, haggling with angry shoppers who thought sure they were getting a real 20-percent savings.
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