Posted by: Paul.Christ
on Nov 15, 2009
Promotional Event Leads to Violence in Paris (New York Times)
Promotions offering free money tend to be viewed suspiciously by consumers who wonder what the “catch” really is in order to participate in such giveaways. But here is a story of a free money promotion that apparently was all about giving free money without the need for the money receivers to give anything back other than showing up in the middle of Paris.
Unfortunately, French police did not see this as such a great promotional idea and closed it down before it got off the ground. That did not sit well with the crowd of over 7,000 gathered to snag the money. Nor did it sit well with local government officials who are considering fining the company. While the police later allowed the promotion to run on a much smaller scale, by then the news was out.
In the ensuing mayhem, about a dozen people were arrested, store windows were broken, a car was overturned and at least one man was beaten by thugs. The riot police were called in to restore order.
As bad as things turned out, did the resulting publicity actually result in this being a positive for the company?
Posted by: Paul.Christ
on Nov 13, 2009
Burger King Franchisees Sue Over $1 Promotion (MSNBC)
In a posting earlier this week we noted that not all franchisors listen to their franchisees the way Subway did when they developed their popular $5 Footlong promotion. And here is a perfect example. Burger King’s franchisees are screaming at the franchisor saying they are losing money on BK’s new, highly publicized $1 Double Cheeseburger promotion. They go a step further and claim that BK does not have the right to set maximum prices on products sold in the franchisees’ stores.
Clearly this is intended to be a loss leader pricing promotion and it is a little hard to believe Burger King can’t run such a promotion for the short term. But we’ll have to see as the courts will take up the matter next week.
The National Franchise Association, a group that represents more than 80 percent of Burger King's U.S. franchise owners, said the $1 promotion forces restaurant owners to sell the quarter-pound burger with at least a 10-cent loss.
If the franchisees win on this issue, what would it mean for any future promotions that are directly involve a low price offering?
Posted by: Paul.Christ
on Nov 04, 2009
AT&T to Verizon: There’s a Lawsuit For That (MSNBC)
What do you do when a competitor produces a comparative advertisement that really hammers you hard? Well, one thing you may be able to do is take the problem to court. And that is what AT&T is doing because they are not very happy with new television ads being run by Verizon (see ad at YouTube). The ads claim to compare the 3G coverage (i.e., primarily high-speed data access) in the U.S. for both providers by showing a side-by-side comparison in the form of nationwide coverage maps. It really doesn’t matter that a very, very large percentage of the U.S. population is covered by both services. What does matter is that the visual suggests more are covered by Verizon and a voice-over suggests AT&T may leave customers without access.
While the voice-over is what AT&T is mostly complaining about (AT&T says customers will still be covered but maybe not by 3G in mostly remote areas), what makes this an interesting story are the maps. More than likely this ad campaign would not be much of a problem if the comparison was limited to just words in a print ad. Instead, this is a case where the visual (i.e., maps) probably caught AT&T’s attention as well as the attention of millions of television viewers. And AT&T is crying foul.
AT&T filed the suit in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia and is asking for a temporary restraining order and a permanent injunction to stop the ads. The company requests an immediate hearing and said AT&T has "suffered and continues to suffer irreparable harm" as a result of the commercials.
Do the colors used to represent each company’s coverage – red for Verizon and blue for AT&T – also suggest something to viewers?