Consumers are becoming more and more adept at screening marketing messages than ever before, which has driven some advertisers to try to come in “under the radar” and try to fool people into responding to ads.
Fawn Filter in a post at Imediaconnection.com writes:
Sometimes you end up with something that builds positive brand associations in a subtle, elegant way. Other times, you get a PR disaster, like the two blogs ostensibly written by happy Wal-Mart customers that were so relentlessly positive almost no one was surprised to learn the retail behemoth had funded them. And somewhere in between are attempts like the viral video purporting to be a leaked amateur shot of Tiger Woods filming a Buick spot. Such attempts are neither straightforward about their origins nor remotely exciting.
Treating your customers like mindless twits isn’t a good way to establish a functional and positive relationship, which is becoming more vital than ever in the early 21st Century.
Walmart’s distain for their customer is so pervasive that their “paid blogging” exploit came as literally no surprise. It’s just another in a series of “corporate mis-steps” which reveal Walmart’s TRUE view of the customer: the customer nothing more than a living, breathing debit card pin input device or provider of signature for the credit card. Their part of the transaction is to aid in the transfer of funds from their account to Walmart’s account…. pure and simple.
Which is why, if you’re operating a “small potatoes” style establishment, you can literally RUN CIRCLES around Walmart… but ONLY if your view of your customer differs from theirs.
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