| Jan. 12, 2009 | Posted by: Marc |
DNA Fusion’s Shock Value Marketing
I just came across an article titled “Some Scared by Design Firm’s ‘Box’ Ad” which leads with the following:
“EAST PROVIDENCE – A graphic design firm’s offbeat marketing campaign backfired when a few of the company’s clients mistook test-tube vials they received in the mail for a terrorist attack and called the police.”
New England hadn’t seen this much action since the Boston Bomb Scare of 2007.
Two things are notable here:
- While life has seemingly returned to normal post-September 11th, there are occasional reminders that “normal” may just be a relative term
- There is a subtle, yet crucial difference between “shocking” and “awe-inspiring.”
MSLK is always recommending clever, memorable tactics to help our clients stay top-of-mind with their customers. However, choosing humor or fun as an attention-getting tool should never come at the sacrifice of conveying actual messaging about what your company does.
In the article, the reporter describes how a graphic design firm’s offbeat marketing campaign backfired when recipients who were sent small tube-like bottles mistook the package for an attempted terrorist attack and called the police.
The mailing — as ill-conceived as it was — actually derived from the company’s president looking for a wacky way to publicize a new division within the company. It’d be fair to say that some people missed the point, which might be the only real crime committed. (There is also an accompanying website, too.)
That old adage of “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” be damned, we would have advised against this tactic for many reasons (cheesiness, among them). While MSLK prefers to take the high road when it comes to our marketing tactics, it is commendable that they ended-up getting more publicity than they intended.
Especially in an age where some people can’t even get arrested.
This direct mail piece and follow up website are a giant waste of time and resources.
The direct mail piece captured attention but what does the test tube have to do with their services? What’s the analogy? They don’t design cool direct mail promotions — they create web solutions.
When you go on their site it takes 24 seconds for the faux YouTube video to play, then it takes another another 5 seconds for their Flash intro on their main site to load, then another few seconds for the animation of the “tube” to go back inside the box and even more time for another video to load to show me their work.
All this just to find out what these people actually DO! By then the “shock value” had really worn off for me…
I say try less “style” more “substance” next time.