They're just ASKing for trouble (major marketing backfire)

It starts...

I don't know if you know it or not, but at the moment in London there is a underground advertising campaign for an unknown website called information-revolution.org

The ads are mainly displayed in tube carriages and have the feel of revolutionary Cuba; the only thing missing is Che Guevara's face. The ads say things like "Should one company really control the webs information". (meaning Google of course)

Here's a picture of one of the ads...

When they first came out I noticed the ads and didn't really pay too much attention. My guess was that some kind of outspoken subversive non-profit group was behind them. But, then I started to notice that there were a LOT of ads all over London underground, and the campaign had run for over three weeks...

Big bucks! (I'm guessing hundreds of thousands at least).

So, I decided to have a look at information-revolution.org

I wish I'd looked earlier, because apparently when it was first launched Ask didn't own up to being behind it. So as far as most people were concerned it was a genuine freedom of information campaign by someone like the EFF... Not a corporate marketing campaign from ask.com... dreamed up by an expensive company like Saatchi and Saatchi (I say like because I don't know who did the campaign).

(Very clever to put the ask logo red dot on the ad by the way)

Anyway, I think there are a number of reasons why this was not a very clever marketing campaign, and may even hurt the ask.com brand.

1) People don't really like to feel hood-winked, and this campaign makes you feel that way. You visit the site because you believe the posters were put out there by someone making posters in his garage, trying to get heard... You think maybe someone had to sell their house to get the funds to do this crazy revolutionary campaign. You think, yeah let's give that guy a chance.

Then when you visit the site, you slowly realize that you have been hoodwinked by a large corporate worth $1.8 billion.

What a great marketing idea!

Let's create a campaign that means each time someone sees my brand they are subconsciously reminded they're a dumb-ass!

2) The kind of people attracted to this ad are probably going to be Geeks. And as far as I am aware Geeks are the most vocal and powerful user group on the web (certainly when it comes to making a stink about things!)

I just think if you're a big brand you have to be super fair, and super truthful, in all messages that you put out to geeks – they smell a rat a mile away!

On the website http://information-revolution.org/ they have a forum. And the posts on that forum are exactly the kind of thing I mean. The only thing that is happening on that forum is the Google brand image is being strengthened - and the Ask brand is being torn to shreds.

Here are some sample posts...

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i’m sorely disappointed - i thought you might be addressing the *real* digital information issue, the growing gap between those with access and those without. Why not take your marketing budget and invest it in free internet access in public places? Well, you did ask
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Do the honourable thing and close this pathetic excuse for a marketing campaign down immediately!!
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Initially i thought this campaign was quite good… I actually checked out a few different search engines and compared them by doing a search for the various topics and simply cross referencing the results. ‘Ask’ came out the worse. What a completely rubbish facility. That ‘unique search algorithm’ must have been done by a primary school kid.
Why go to the bother of starting a *ahem* ‘revolution’ when you’re just going to find egg on your face as soon as people work out the truth.
The Ask Jeeves butler was one of the most light-weight, lame-arse unappealing branding ideas of the internet era… and Ask have now trumped it by giving a real reason for people to get annoyed and stear clear of using Ask.com…. nice marketing!
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This is worse than the McDonalds honesty site - there is as much meat in their burgers as there is on their site or on this site which is nothing but a method of deception and over-obvious marketing.

Yep I’m here. Yep, I’m commenting - but using Ask so you can up your advertising revenue?? I don’t think so.
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So far I found Google the most effective search engine that fit in my everyday life.
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the only revolution happening here is in the comments page. the main revolution is anyone who has anything to say has there comments deleted. not very democratic to say the least. i am not sure about all these marketing slogans about freedom of information when you keep deleting peoples thoughts. i say don’t ask!
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(All posts taken from here)

Hmmm.

I feel ill on behalf of the person who thought up this campaign just reading them.

Marketers... pay attention... don't mess with Geeks.

3) Are Geeks the right market segment for ask.com to target anyway?

For a geek Google brand loyalty runs deep. Very deep.

I first heard about Google via word of mouth when they launched. At that time Google was just a great way to find things on the net. As a Geek it was mind blowing to use something like Google. Nothing else even came close.

Over the years the search quality only improved and they always kept the same interface, and always kept it clean and simple.

When they introduced ads they were non intrusive, contextual, and very clever.

As they became more successful Google folk-law started to spread, and I learnt how they built their first server themselves. How they ran it in a garage. I read the research paper that they did before Google existed. I found out they wrote their own file system (which is just too cool if your a Geek).

I heard the "Do no evil" motto (and I believed it).

I heard how Google treat staff. How they let them move from one project to another without issue. How geeks get the chance to work on whatever they want if they think it is going to be big, and if it doesn't get big then the reward is in the being paid to make it. I scanned Google's open source offerings.

Google is just too cool. Especially if you're a geek (ok not all geeks feel that way, but I would wager that most do).

Given all of the above, I would have thought that the marketing cost-of-acquisition to get a Geek to move from Google to Ask would be VERY expensive.

I guess what I'm saying is... I'm no marketer, but to my mind the Ask marketing problem is somewhat similar to the one Pepsi had vs Coke all those years ago.

Wouldn't it make more sense for Ask to do a Pepsi challenge type of campaign (choice for a new generation, yada, yada) for non Geeks, than to target cynical Geeks with a v-high cost of acquisition...?

Anyways, that's my two cents. What do other people think about all of this?

Disclaimer!

I just want to close by saying that I have nothing against Ask as a search engine. It has some neat features after all!

This article is mainly about my indignation at being hoodwinked by clever marketing folks... but hey, that happens to everyone, every single day... right?

On that note... Did you ever see that Bill Hicks piece about Marketers?

Awesome.