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December 18, 2003
Is this any way to sell a car?
Without question, telemarketing, pop-up ads, and spam occupy the lonely waiting room of desperation-marketing. If your counter is, "Yes, but those tactics result in some sales, so they must work," then you also believe that end results (an average conversion rate of 0.2%) justify any means (99.8% failure rate). By and large, the world's largest companies avoid desperation marketing and its first cousin, sex-based ads.
However, a smoke-filled headline today in the Wall Street Journal indicates what must be a hot fire of desperation burning inside Daimler-Chrysler: "Chrysler's Dodge Brand Moves To Drop Out of Lingerie Bowl."
What promises to make the "Bud Bowl" appear brilliant, "the Lingerie Bowl will be a tackle football game between teams of seven models wearing bras and panties" according to organizers. Dodge signed on as a sponsor in November to the pay-per-view event, which will be broadcast during the Super Bowl.
Problem is, Dodge dealers hate the idea. So do employees and customers, who see it as a sexist stunt. Then who's left to love it?
Julie Roehm, the Chrysler executive who signed up the carmaker for the Lingerie Bowl deal. (Alert readers of the book "Creating Customer Evangelists" will remember her as the former Ford marketing exec who paid actors to pretend they were enthusiastic new Ford Focus customers in cities around the country.)
This isn't to minimalize a "Lingerie Bowl" of barely dressed models (the website says, "We're hoping the clothing stays on"). It will probably do pretty well, especially considering the hackles it's raising. In many instances, companies and their leaders do well to be "slightly outrageous" amidst of sea of corporate vanilla.
But being outrageous is rooted in a belief system of defying expectations by exceeding them, not pandering to the carnal-curious. Pandering works well for the porn industry, though. Maybe Julie Roehm has a new opportunity there.
Other blogs that reference Is this any way to sell a car?:
» Is this any way to sell a car? from The Scobleizer Weblog
Ben McConnell (who writes the inspiring "Church of the Customer" weblog) ask " is this any way to sell a car ?" (About Chrysler's participation in the Lingerie Bowl: "But being outrageous is rooted in a belief system of defying expectations by exceeding t [Read More]
I think one of the overlooked costs of desperation is the impact is has on the people resorting to it. To manipulate another, we have to manipulate ourselves. People who resort to this sort of stuff tell their colleagues and associates something about their values that - to my mind - supports a culture of half-truths. Just because that's not immediately picked up in a metric does not mean there is no impact.
Without knowing what Dodge paid for the sponsorship, my guess is they have already received millions of dollars in free publicity.
Those who believe that any publicity is good publicity (as long as they spell the company's name right) will already call this promotion a success.
On the other hand, smart consumers won't suddenly feel that Dodge builds the most reliable, efficient, satisfying passenger vehicles, just because they wrote a check to put beautiful women in positions many males fantasize about.
I won't be buying the pay-per-view event. It will probably be on the Internet well before the Super Bowl is over and Brett Favre is holding the Lombardi trophy once again. Win-win for me. Maybe that's just my fantasy. A guy can dream, can't he?
John Moore's comments are spot-on: A company is a reflection of its people and their day-to-day decisions, which emanate from the company's reason for being. Being "edgy" to solicit attention, which then sells records and concerts, is the right strategy for pop music groups. But sex, drugs and rock 'n roll for selling pickups? This wreck of a strategy will probably get several Dodge/Chrysler execs towed to the pound.
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