Hi Friends,
Strolling down the sidewalk on my way to meet my wife for lunch today, two pretty blond girls walked up and handed me $5 cash.
I said, “Five bucks… for both of you… how cheap do I look?”
(Okay, I didn’t say that, but I would have if I’d thought of it so let’s not my deteriorating wit-speed ruin a good story.)
Turns out they were promoting a new subscription coupon service for a local website. And handing out cash money was the best idea they could come up with for getting the word out.
Actually not a bad idea at all. Attaching cash “grabbers” to a strong sales letter has been a trusty direct response marketing weapon for years.
Problem with this campaign was, not only didn’t they have a strong letter to go with the money… they didn’t even have an informative pitch — let alone a compelling one — to drive me somewhere I could get more details and (gasp) actually sign up for something.
Instead, this is exactly how my conversation with the pretty blond girl went…
PBG: Hey, would you like some free money?
Me: Whattya got?
PBG: TBO just started a new promotion called daily deals and we’re going “old school” to get the word out.
Me: (authenticating cash) Cool, thanks.
PBG: You’re welcome. Tell your friends.
That was it.
Result of TBO’s $5 investment (plus whatever they paid PBG to help get rid their of cash): my lunch waitress was slightly over-tipped.
Much to the TBO ad department’s chagrin…
- I’m not educated or excited about their new promotion…
- I’m not armed with a handy pitch (either from PBG or the scarce info card wrapped around the money) about the new service to go along with the story of a cute blond handing me money on the street.
- I’m not compelled to sign up for this service based on the idea that I’ll get “more free money” via these great deals from places I already love to patron.
TBO.com... throwing their cash in the trash.
In other words, their “let’s hand money to strangers on the street” idea was as effective as tossing the bills in the trash.
(Except for the fact that I’m writing about it and if you happen to live in the Tampa Bay area you might be compelled to search out the promotion. Unlikely.)
But wait… the real crime of this horrid campaign is yet to take place…
When I went to visit the landing page (surely they created a separate landing page for this promotion — no one’ s THAT inept)… there was no URL directing me to a landing page (I stand corrected). Just a small ad hocking seafood on the busy main page at TBO.com
That means a web service hired pretty blond girls to go stand on the street and hand people real cash money just for signing up for their new coupon service… but failed to create a web page for the service!
WOW!
I made a quick video to show you where the “info card” does lead and how once you do find the landing page for the new promotion, you leave there more confused than when blond chicks handed you money on the street corner.
Click play to witness the epic failure of the web portion of this promotion…
OK, hate to kvetch and run, but my times up for today.
I’d love to share ideas with you guys about how to do money grabbers the right way in the comments section. If you have any good examples, please share. I’ll also try to dig up the famous Halbert money grabber sales letter opening to share. That short piece of copy alone contains everything TBO needed to fix this campaign.
Otherwise, let this be a reminder about how important it is to thoroughly PLAN your campaign before you start handing money to strangers.
Go make money,
Kevin
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Where’s the blondes, dude, that what I came over for?
But seriously… where are th blondes.
No, seriously, good post and video. It’s been a while since the last one. Where you been?
Best,
Rezbi
http://commonsensedirectmarketing.com/
Great story Kevin.
I just wish PBGs would hand me money.
To save you time here’s the Dollar Bill opening from the GHLs
“Dear John
As you can see, I have attached a crisp, new $1 bill to the top of this letter. Why have I done this? There are two reasons…
1. I have something very important to share with you… and I needed a way to make sure I got your immediate attention… and…
2. Since what I have to share involves making money… I thought using a dollar bill as n “eye-catcher” was especially appropriate.
Here’s what this is all about.”
I’m sure I’ve seen it with three points sometimes but this is the one that went in my swipe file.
Thanks for all your help on SWS.
Money grabbers are great for “stick letters”, too — one I got from a top marketer recently follows the same classic two-step Halbert opening, except for #2 he substitutes:
“And secondly, for reasons I will explain in a moment, I wanted you to experience, as you open this letter, the totally unique thrill of receiving money in the mail from a completely unexpected source.”
That alone was good, but he gives it a nice extra payoff at the end of the letter:
“P.S. I forgot to tell you the other reason I sent you that dollar bill. You know, you can do whatever you want with it. You can give it to charity, buy yourself a beer or whatever. But you know what I hope you do with it?
I Hope You Frame It!
And then, someday, in the not too distant future, what I hope happens is… someone will see that dollar bill hanging on your wall and… when they ask you about it… you’ll say something like this…
‘Well, that happens to be the very first dollar I ever received because of my association with ______ and, since then, I have received hundreds of thousands more!’”
Masterful. Just like Carlton said about the famous “nickel” letter, when he convinced TRS not to try to save money on postage by substituting a penny because he had tied the nickel so well into the story later in the ad, that “first dollar” twist just adds an extra compelling “reason why”: Why a nickel? Why a one-dollar bill, or a five-dollar bill? Taking it that extra step, giving it that extra “payoff”, takes it from good to great. It’s almost like “Chekhov’s gun” in fiction: If there’s a gun on the wall in the first act, it should damn well go off by the third act. And I think a really good money grabber vs. an average one can be just like that: the difference between a cocked gun and a bullseye.
“Dear Kevin,
As you can see, I’ve attached a crisp, new blonde to this $5 bill.
Why have I done this? There are two reasons…”
Very nice.
“the difference between a cocked gun and a bullseye.” Great quote, Ben. You’re right about this, of course… and it just drives home how terribly they missed the mark with this campaign. But hey, we can’t be everywhere.
Thanks, Paul. I had a feeling someone would beat me to it.
Great job in SWS. It was my pleasure.
My bad, rez… I buried the lede by not including photos didn’t I? Maybe I’ll run into them again today and steal a photo.
I was literally buried in work for the last 2 months. Not complaining, but it’s nice to breathe again for a bit.
Hey Kev,
Interesting post dude.
And yeah, that’s a pretty creative and long-winded way of flushing cash down the john.
My first day in NYC last year, I walked into a Borders and a sincere young cashier-type handed me a one dollar bill, along with a flyer advertising a new book. His pitch went something like “Here’s a buck, we’d like it if you put it toward this new title from x, but hey, if you just want to grab a coffee on us, that’s fine too.”
It was pretty cool… of course I spent so long wandering through Borders that I forgot all about the guy and his dollar. Guess he needs to work on his closing. No coffee for him.
Good to see you posting again dude, looking forward to the next one.
-Dave
Hey Kevin, I’m the PBG you met yesterday. You sure do seem confused around a very simple concept . . . let me explain again – you get a DAILY DEAL from a different local business every day. Really? A 10 minute video for you to figure out to click on a fixed banner? Anyhow, you’re welcome for the $5 to tip your waitress. You should know, I’m not just a PBG, I happen to be the marketing director for TBO.com and when I’m not handing out cash, I’m busy generating enough unique users to make TBO.com Tampa’s #1 web site. Thanks for your input and moreover for talking about it . . . . that was the point.
You’re quite welcome. I hope I annoyed you just enough to help.
As you can see, I’m a little slow, so your explanation still has me befuddled. Help me out…
What is a Daily Deal?
How does it benefit me?
How do I know it will be relevant to stuff I like (or use already)?
If it’s such a great thing, why are you bribing me with cash to get involved?
I know the words Daily Deal seem like a no-brainer, but I get bombarded with deals daily as it is… so why is this worth cluttering my inbox?
Kevin,
Great stuff. As a previous retail business owner, with no previous experience, I quickly learned to not use the philosophy of, “if you throw enough mud at the wall, something’s gotta stick.”
It’s easy for corporations with deep pockets to do, but they never really no what’s working, and what’s not. Hopefully this company will learn fast that it’s not working.
The only downfall is there won’t be any hot blondes handing you money on the street.
-Dana
Ok . . . let me help.
>> What is a Daily Deal? Well, it’s a deal everyday . . . discounts from a different local business every 24 hours . . . Daily means 24 hrs, deal means bargain, discount, savings. I know you get it. (sarcastic smile, wink from the PBG)
>>How does it benefit me? Signing up for the daily email or checking out the fixed position on TBO.com every day lets you decide if it’s a deal you’re interested in. If you like the deal you buy it, if you don’t maybe you’ll tell someone you think would like it because it’s such a good discount.
http://dailydeal.tbo.com/how-it-works
>> How do I know it will be relevant? Our Daily Deal committee has to approve the deals offered by advertisers — we don’t just let anyone surface a deal – we check it out, make sure it’s really a deal based on known pricing or pricing on their sites then we schedule the deals so that we are covering the DMA and covering a range of topics.
>> Why are you bribing me? It was never meant to be a bribe, which is exactly why we didn’t say, “all you have to do is sign up to receive a daily email right now on this form.” We said, “tell your friends why TBO.com gave you $5.” The product is social in nature, meant to be shared and talked about. The tactic to give out money was meant to have people talk and share. You accomplished that for us. Thank you.
PBG,
You make it sound like there’s something wrong with an ethical bribe.
Look… if you’re going to hand money to people, you have to tell them why. Make them feel good about receiving it. Otherwise it’s just weird.
Did you know employees who feel “under-utilized” at work suffer greater depression than those who feel “overworked”?
For most humans, our nature is to work for our money. You’ve bought their attention… and by not completing the exchange with specific info you want them to share with their friends (or better yet, an action you’d like them to take) you’ve short-changed both parties.
If all you wanted to accomplish was sending out a “cool vibe” by handing out free money, you would have done it a few blocks west near the soup kitchen.
You said yourself that it was shockingly hard to get people to take free money. That’s because nothing is free. A legitimate offer would have went along way towards earning the reciprocity you were after.
But the true crime here is your failure to create an exciting, specific landing page for people to visit (and sign up) then listing it on the card.
From concept to execution, this campaign is about hedging your advertiser’s bet on the coupon instead of creating a new fan for the company behind the deal. If it fails, that’s why. If it looks like it’s failing and you want to salvage it, this is how you fix it…
Start over with the end user in mind. Make it simple and irresistible. The message should fit on the card and excite me to get involved. And when I arrive at the order page there should be nothing more to figure out. Simply: I spend $XX bucks today and I get $TWICE THAT to spend at my favorite spots in town. That’s it. No hoping it gets “activated” or pressure to share it so it does. People will share things that excite them — not to help TBO sell ad space.
(Plus, what message does an unactivated coupon send to the few who bought only to get turned away?)
You’re right. It is an incredibly simple concept. Amazing how complicated it became.
Anyway, thanks for your input. It’s been fun (and hopefully informative)… and I’m glad I helped you “get the word out”.
Let us know if anyone actually makes money.
Kevin
Kevin,
This really makes me miss the banter we use to have at Marge’s
Miss you brother…and I hope you are well.
Mike
Me too, Mike. Thanks man. Good to hear from you.
Great vid Kevin!
I LOVE watching copywriters (well, at least ones who know what the heck they are doing) rip apart others sales letters and marketing efforts. It’s a great way to learn.
Keep ‘em coming.
Matt
It never ceases to amaze me how wrong nimrods can get it.
It’s not rocket science. Marketing is largely “lather, rinse, repeat…” why must the idiots make it harder than it is?
But there’s another lesson to be learned here…
Blondes will always cost you money!