Dear Marketers: What Would You Do With a 2M Advertising Budget

Dear Marketers: What Would You Do With a 2M Advertising Budget

Have any ideas about how you’d put that 2 million to use?

What if the boss said you were fired if the company didn’t make any money from whatever avenue(s) you chose?

Take a gander at this video that ETrade put out during Super Bowl XXXIV — Go Rams!

Talk about disarming your audience with humor!!!

If you didn’t laugh at the primate in the video there’s seriously something wrong with you.

*Note: I’m not sure if it’s a monkey, chimp or whatever. I do know that the furry, dancing mammalian in the video is definitely a “primate”.

On a serious note though: I really like the subtlety of the advertisement. They cleverly advertised their business by first offering some delirious entertainment, then followed with a brief plug for their business at the end. All to the tune of 2 million buckeroonys!

ETrade chose this approach over the all-too-common ploy so often used by the financial services industry: ie., preying on sadness, desperation, fear of the unknown — putting the hurt on people who’re down on their luck, at the end of their rope, and just trying to watch a football game to forget about how crappy their life is right now.

This funny “primate” commercial was rated the #4 Super Bowl commercial of all time!

The only time I respect tear-jerking advertising methods is when it’s for a good cause:

or this:

So what would you do if you had 2 million dropped on your lap just for advertising?

Could you justify making a cheap commercial with a dancing animal and a couple of old fogies, then spend the rest for  a 30 second placement on the boob tube?

Share your thoughts…

 

Related Post

The business world should not be boring. Agreed?

If you say “Absolutely!” please sign up to receive weekly updates from the extraordinary world of business, hand-picked from the web just for you.