Marketing by mistake……..or design?

Howdy.

Saw some absolutely brilliant marketing on Monday that was apparently done by mistake.

Here in Australia, we’ve just finished the second series of the hit TV show “Australian Idol”. A girl called Casey Donovan won it.

That was on Sunday night.

On the Monday, one of the major sponsors of the show placed some warm and fuzzy newspaper adverts saying “Congratulations Casey”. It also provided the web address of Casey’s web site.

Thousands of kids visit Casey’s site – but it’s gay porn!

Unfortunately they left the .au off the address and sent thousands of people to a gay porn site!

Instant uproar

The uproar was instant with huge publicity given to the gaffe. And everyone I’ve spoken with has become aware of Casey’s web site because of the uproar. I’d estimate the site has received x3 the number of visitors it would have otherwise attracted.

Here’s the worst bit

The people doing Casey’s web site still haven’t bothered to get the site going. It’s still a “Site coming soon”. That’s a great example of how here in Australia people devalue the huge benefit that web sites can provide.

Her site should have been…..

Her site should have been completed before she won the competition. As soon as she won (i.e. 10 seconds after she was announced as the winner) the new site should have been live. It should contain stuff like:

* Profile

* Download her song

* Video of the announcement

* Interviews

* Send Casey an email

* Join Casey’s Personal Newsletter

* Read Casey’s Blog

* Screensavers

* Checkout the photo gallery

* Listen to Casey’s interview

* Order Casey’s single

* Buy Casey merchandise

* Join Casey’s Official Cheer Squad

* Download a free Casey e-book

* You get the idea!

Anything at all to strength the relationship between Casey and her fans and build Casey as a brand. Get the fans whilst they are hot and keen. Build those contact databases, provide free stuff, sell other stuff.

It’s now Wednesday morning….

It’s now Wednesday morning and the web site isn’t going yet. That’s a huge wasted opportunity.

Make the most of every opportunity in business because you usually won’t get a second chance.

 

 

Dec 6, 2004: P.S: It’s now 17 days since Casey won Idol. The web site still hasn’t been updated.