First, imagine that you came across the following piece of marketing on the street. Ignore, for a moment, that you’re seeing it here.
Secondly, you are only seeing it here because I am curious about your opinion. For me, in a vacuum, it did not have enough interesting content to warrant passing on in and of itself. However, I am a marketer, and as such I am interested in your opinion on the technique being utilized.
A few questions for you, the reader:
- Would you go visit the URL if you found this in the change you received from a monetary interaction?
- Would you mentally retain it long enough that, by the time you were actually in front of a computer, you would remember to type it in?
- If you did remember it, would you feel compelled to actually visit the site?
- Are you at all affected by the choice by the marketers to use your money as a billboard?
- Any other thoughts?
I recognize the viral value in me posting this here, but that is not what I am interested in at the moment. I don’t think that people typically will take photos of their money. I am interested in levels of effectiveness of every-day use of advertising on change. Additionally, I am purposefully not linking to their site because, once again, that is not the point of this post.
So, what do you think of this advertising method?
I likely wouldn’t check out the link. Not because it doesn’t peak my interest, but because of the trouble of digging the coin out of my wallet to remember it.
There is so much advertising around us these days, we should make sure we keep some spaces neutral. A few years ago, I remember hearing that companies wanted to start advertising on those little stickers that come on your fruit. Not a big deal.
I also remember reading somewhere years ago that Pepsi wanted to put a giant billboard into space. You can imagine the problems that would cause.
Using money is obviously a great medium to get your website out there to all sorts of people but I don’t agree with debasing it like this.
If it was just someone trying to promote themselves, I would probably pull the sticker off. But for the environment, I think it might be effective.
I’m all for marketing, its all part of the game. I especially like when it is clever, and makes me think – or laugh at myself.
I like the brain that thought of this.
That said… I’m a little disturbed by the concept of being bombarded by advertising on EVERYTHING I come into contact with throughout the course of the day… yikes… its bad enough out there already.
I am also, in a lame attempt at irony, using this post to advertise my employer’s company (and Davin’s company’s web design)… 😉
I personally believe that this is a strong marketing campaign because:
– it costs them nothing
– it takes advantage of a viral market (money is inherently viral in that people pass it on, whether in this case on purpose or not)
– it is adept at relating money to the environment (oil is money in our economy) and uses iconic graphics of Canadian nature to make it’s statement
I don’t think it’s overall purpose is about getting you to visit the website, because the message is self-apparent. The principle marketing tactic here to make us aware of oil-slicked birds and having us visit their website is just gravy. It’s smart marketing/advertising because it’s in a place we don’t normally find messages and it gets to the point. We are talking about it obviously.
The only problem is that it defaces money, which is illegal. Otherwise, good for them. If you don’t like it, don’t visit the website, or better yet, report it to the mint.
They get out of the money defacement angle ’cause they say the stickers are non-permanent. Whether they realized this before or after they were nailed on it, I’m not sure.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2009/02/11/bc-oil-slick-loonies.html
I’ve seen these stickers and, while I might agree with the cause, I don’t agree with the medium. It’s a little clever, but I find it a bit intrusive, clinging to my money. I’d likely remove it, despite any good things the group is trying to do.
Plus, the sticker in this photo is misaligned, so it scored instant lose points. =)
Uncharacteristically negatively yours,
I probably wouldn’t have noticed it. I rarely look at the coins in my purse and when I hand them over I probably wouldn’t notice something like that.
If I was near a computer I may type it in, but chances are there’s just not enough space to make an ad compelling enough for me 🙂
Flip this conversation on its head:
if you’re NoTankers.ca, and you have no or next to no budget, what would be the very best way to get your message across to as many Canadians (or British Columbians) as possible?
Again, I think this is brilliant.
Hopefully it was substantiated with good PR: media mailouts, follow-ups, some media interviews, email campaigns, etc.
I get so many of these Loonies with those stickers on them at work. A few things of note:
* They are only –EVER– Loonies. No other format.
* People are generally quite eager to get rid of them.
* Some folks don’t even realize that it is a sticker on the Loonie, and wonder out loud if it’s “Ok to use it” — leading to the aforementioned point.
* A percentage of the oh so finely washed and ungroomed clientele whose demographic shall remain nameless get angry if they see me taking off the sticker after receiving the dollar from them. It’s not that I don’t believe in their cause or that I think it’s unjust, I just don’t like being cleverly used. Especially when it’s that obvious. It’s like someone trying to sneak away with your car while you’re still in it.
* I feel kind of like a douchebag giving people currency that has advertising on it. Sometimes I get asked for a ‘real’ dollar..haha.
* In a land where people pay with Loonies that have nail holes punched through them (Heck, I’ll take ’em, let it be the Bank’s problem — but yes, I get those too), stickers aren’t so bad.
the concept is clever, but the design is poor. had the design been more thoroughly considered and executed (and the sticker more accurately placed), it would have delivered a massive punch that would get me seriously interested in the URL… but there still needs to be a kick to the URL, otherwise it’s just a website that i can check out.
as far as i can tell, the site really provides no way for me to get involved, besides the usual petition, which really doesn’t interest me. i’d rather sign a petition with a brief, succinct description of the purpose, rather than one that is so enravelled by a whole website’s worth of moot points.
on all counts, this particular effort was designed and executed poorly, considering a very punchy and interesting initial attention-grab.
I would probably just peel the sticker off and wonder if they got sued for doing that.