Mad 4 Blog

Those hoping to snag an affordable floral bouquet delivery in time for Valentine’s Day were about to have their hopes dashed after trying to purchase a coupon from Groupon.com. Groupon is an enormously popular website (and mobile app)  that allows visitors to buy very steep coupons for their favorite products and services, ranging from pet groomers to salons, from restaurant gift certificates to concert tickets.

The original V-Day deal was that customers could buy a coupon that gave them $40 worth of FTD flowers for only $20—an excellent steal at half-off. However, first buyers were told as early as Feb. 10 that they couldn’t get their flowers until Feb. 15—after Valentine’s Day. Those that forged ahead would discover that when they visited the designated website where they were supposed to shop, they noticed that the prices were higher on their options than on the actual FTD site. For example, a dozen roses through Groupon might have been $40, while the same bouquet was only $20 elsewhere on the site. That means the customers saved…nothing. They were simply directed to marked-up wares in return to buying coupons through a third-party site.

Furthermore, the Groupon deal description stated that on-sale flowers were not purchasable with the coupon; what actually happened was that when customers clicked on some low-priced bouquet, the website then tried to charge them $5-$10 more than the price as shown, claiming that the displayed cost was “on sale” and they needed to pay “full price”—meaning that the same floral bouquet could be bought cheaper on FTD, and they were being charged surplus for being Groupon customers—some deal!

Originally, Groupon was claiming that the numbers on the site were an accident, but the deal was soon taken down—after selling $20 vouchers to more than 3,000 money-savvy romantics (that’s over $60,000 for those keeping count). Now, Groupon is embroiled in controversy and struggling to make amends with those who purchased coupons for FTD.

Who’s at fault here? Is it FTD, Groupon or both? Of course, it’s now probably up to the courts to decide, but let us know what you think! And feel free to share any of your own horror stories about false advertising.

Naturally, Mad 4 Marketing is strongly against any deceptive marketing practices, and we will help you steer clear of any possible message entanglement to provide your clients and customers with informative, attractive, appealing and honest advertising.

The Super Bowl just keeps stepping up its game when it comes to selling, promoting and popularizing its commercials, which cost $3 million for 30 seconds on average this year.

For the first time ever, Hulu.com showed commercials during Super Bowl XLV through a specialized “channel” (AdZone 2011) that allowed viewers to not only watch and replay their favorites, but also vote. By the end of the night, Hulu had announced the three top-performing commercials: Volkswagon’s “The Force,” Bridgestone’s “Carma” and Doritos’ “Housesitting.” By asking thousands of viewers to actively rate and comment on the commercials as they were concurrently aired on cable TV, Hulu could quickly map popularity in a quicker and more specific way than can be estimated through television “views”—gauging who had the game on while the commercials aired, without knowing who was actually watching or what they thought.

Analysts, on the other hand, are revealing that Camaro’s ad (where two men voiceover a schoolteacher’s wild drive) may have rated higher than any other Super Bowl commercials, with 119 million viewers in the fourth quarter (when ads typically garner the most attention), according to Nielsen Co. This year’s ad star power involved Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Bieber, Faith Hill and Joan Rivers, though none of these spots (for Best Buy, Teleflora and GoDaddy.com) were among the highest-ranking or most-popular. Consumer-generated Doritos ads dominated the night, with four ads placed throughout each quarter–though the most-memorable (“Pug”) was not the most-watched (“Housesitting”). Strong presences from the past (GoDaddy.com, Budweiser) barely made it on the scoreboard, while E*Trade lagged in near-obscurity, despite being a fan favorite in 2009 (and, to a lesser extent, in 2010).

Maybe the reason that the Super Bowl commercials are increasingly becoming one of the most important parts of the whole sporting event—especially for those who don’t really care about the athletes on the field—is because the pre-game and halftime shows are getting steadily weaker. They fail to take risks and try to appeal to too broad of an audience, thereby appealing to mostly no-one, as far as polls for Super Bowl XLV would indicate (showing about 30% popularity for the Black Eyed Peas, Slash and Usher).

And who can overlook the fact that Christina Aguilera messed up the national anthem lyrics, setting a dubious tone to the whole night’s entertainment? (If you’re a marketer, admit it: Didn’t you sort of suspect that she did it on purpose just for the press? It would seem like a smart, since a perfect performance wouldn’t have garnered nearly the attention, and she’s sense been invited to perform at a number of live events to “prove she can do it right.” If it was one at all, it was a very, very smart marketing tactic.)

As always, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and tell Mad 4 what you think about the entertainment and commercial aspects of Super Bowl XLV.

This Valentine’s Day, we’re going to talk about…what else? Love. But not just any love–the very special kind of love that can only be properly conveyed through social media.

Social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are often used to launch campaigns based on popularity, encouraging page visitors to tweet with a certain hashtag, “like” a page or post a status to show support and solidarity. The success of such campaign is used to measure the strength of demand for a certain agenda–much like door-to-door petitions of the past.

For example, now when there’s a crisis–such as the tragedies in Haiti or protests in Egypt–large numbers rally to either show the government or their peers that they support efforts to stand behind legislative or financial aid. By showing some love for their favorite causes, individuals become a part of a loud, collective voice that has more ability to affect those with money and power than any of the individuals could have shown by posting or tweeting on their own.

In 2008, Facebook users who were writers, editors, journalists and word enthusiasts joined forces to get the AP Style Guide, bible to grammarians, to modify its policy on using “website” as opposed to the outdated “Web site.” Over 700 of these AP-using professionals amassed to give their cause one focused, online backing. As of April 2010, it worked, affecting millions across the globe in the writing and publishing sphere.

Meanwhile, less serious campaigns are increasingly initiated, often involving celebrity. Comedian Chris Gethard asked fans of his live talk show to tweet to Sean “Diddy” Combs to get the famous rapper on his show. Thirteen months and countless #diddygethard posts later, Gethard’s abstract—but massively popular—pitch became a reality. Why did Diddy comply and show up on a small-scale late-night talk show in a basement-level NYC theater? To appease the fans, and thank them for their year of digital, vocal love.

Currently, a 20-something Bostonian gal who claims to be Conan O’Brien’s biggest fan is aiming to get at least 5,000 supporters on her Facebook page in an effort to snag a guest spot on his show. This number hasn’t been confirmed by O’Brien or TNT, but is her own personal aim–and she can only hope to get the network or the man himself to get on board and play into the love she and her 5,000 supporters are proving.

So should the masses have that much sway over major corporations, brands and celebrity entities? How much power should be granted to earnest, persistent individuals with time on their hands and access to social media accounts? Didn’t that honor used to only go to the obsessed and stalkers? Let us know in the comments, we’d love to hear what you think.

These days, it’s not always easy to convince people to come see a live music show. Within minutes of a song’s closing notes, the performance has already been posted on YouTube and shared around the world, thanks to ubiquitous recording devices that sync up instantly with social media accounts. That makes it harder to convince fans that they should shell out good money to watch it happen live.

Plus, with each gig recorded and accessible, musicians can’t get away with some of the tricks that used to get them through a tour. For example, doing the same exact routine dozens of times. Though trying to tell stories and engage with fans in a naturalistic way, scripts and rehearsal are often employed. But now, any chance at the material seeming fresh or spontaneous is eradicated, since fans can see the same dialogue repeated show after show through video. Bands used to only need to worry about the die-hards and groupies who would travel with them, often hearing the same sets or anecdotes over and over again. Now, to keep up with media, it means not using the same lines word-for-word in each show, and changing up the song order and playlists as well. All of this requires more time, effort and rehearsal from musicians and their teams. And money, of course.

Now bands are looking for ways to reward those who show up to see them play, to make the live experience less replaceable. On their recent tour to celebrate their tenth anniversary—which launched in the U.S. in Sunrise, Florida, after selling out in Europe and Australia—Linkin Park offered attendees the chance to text in a code that would give them access to a free copy of the performance they’d just seen online. It’s a way of rewarding them for paying for the ticket with a souvenir; not just of a generic EP, but of the very show they’d attended, so they can relive the experience and remember how great it was to see live.

San Francisco-based rock band Train takes photos of the audience from the stage and tweets them, letting those who were there look for themselves in the crowd and also pass along the pics to friends for easily viral bragging rights. Meanwhile, Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls encourages audience members to tweet her song requests while she’s onstage to add to her lineup at the time of the concert.

These are just a few examples of how bands are using social media tools to encourage their fans to show up at live engagements and keep them even more connected. We’d love to hear about more examples you may have heard about or seen, so let us know!