What Scares You?
When I was a kid, Halloween lasted one day. Now that I have kids, between multiple parties, costume parades, trick-or-treating at my husband’s office and other activities it seems to last a week.
Feeling Halloween’d out when you haven’t even carved your pumpkin yet is a scary feeling. What scares you at this time of year?
Some folks get the wiggins from the fact that spooky décor pops up for sale in department stores as early as August, crowding out the back-to-school supplies before most parents have bought their kids new lunchboxes yet. Of course, that makes sense, as I noticed Target clearing out the Halloween items of a few aisles weeks ago to put out Christmas decorations.
Ask the average person what characters creep them out and they might name stereotypical monsters like Dracula or Frankenstein. As a marketing writer, I’d pick a few more commercial creatures. The Burger King “King” freaks me out to no end. And that “Smiling Bob” guy from the Enzyte commercials makes my skin absolutely crawl. (Check out the Daily Special poll this week to vote on who you think is the spookiest spokesperson.)
That aside. you know what’s really scary? Poorly targeted marketing efforts. A couple of days ago, I received an e-mail from the Radisson Martinique in Manhattan, a hotel I spent a night in earlier this year while on a business trip.
The Radisson was pitching a “Grand Slam” World Series Package, offering 20% savings on a hotel stay, coupled with a free breakfast and a Metro Card.
Now, I don’t really follow baseball. The only reason I have any idea of what is happening in the sports is thanks to friend’s Facebook status updates. So this offer isn’t for me.
Of course, the Radisson doesn’t have my sports preferences on file. But they do have my home address, which should have tipped them off that I’m not a good prospect for this pitch. Why? Not many folks from the Boston area are interested in celebrating the Yankees going to the show. Even if we don’t follow the sport religiously, our allegiance is with the Red Sox.
So, aside from the down economy, what’s scaring you these days?
October 28th, 2009 at 6:52 pm
The Burger King “King” freaks me out too, but the free credit report commercials, well, the more they make the scarier it gets to me anyway. Where will he be next??
October 29th, 2009 at 2:56 pm
The volume of commericals scare me. Some actually startle me when they begin. Do advertisers think that by blaring their message, we will hear them all the way in the kitchen (as we dig in the fridge for a snack)? Maybe they do, but I gotta tell ya’ — it just aggravates me.
October 31st, 2009 at 5:30 pm
What freaks me out is the amount of pathetic advertising and marketing still being done today; what horrifies me is the lack of measurement that accompanies most of this “killer creative.”
Beth, your point RE: poor targeting is another great example of just do & don’t think in the industry.