Billboard Proposal: An Attempt at Viral Marketing by Helzberg Diamonds

Posted by llake on June 10th, 2008

Success or failure?  While the billboard did create buzz among the I-35 North commuters, I don’t know if I would call this campaign brilliant.First off, we all know that viral marketing success is extremely difficult to track. I can tell you that based on my own web traffic analytics people were very interested in who initiated this billboard proposal but for a truly successful viral campaign I would think those searching would have found Helzberg, not me.  Could that be point of failure Number 1?The reason I question the success of the viral campaign are for the following reasons:Was it tracked?  What determined the success? What was the outcome that was desired? Why was the campaign not followed through online?I’m also not sure that the banner they have placed over the billboard proposal makes sense.  It now reads “This guy proposed on a billboard, regular men go to Helzberg.”Truth be told we as women don’t want to marry ordinary or regular men, so the natural next question I have - Is the skinny little guy with the beady eyes on the billboard really single?  Hmmm…single girls might want to know, especially if they are not looking for the “regular” guy.When it comes to an advertising concept, in order to work in a viral perspective, the concept needs to add value to the user’s experience. This value can be explicated in something entertaining, in something educational or in something rewarding.  I agree that the billboard was entertaining, but does it fit in adding to the user’s experience?I realize I could be missing key-points to this campaign, since I’ve not been in the market for diamonds lately. I’m interested in more details because where I’m standing I’m not really seeing the success of this viral campaign.While Helzberg may have been speaking to the gentlemen out there, they have now put the thought in the woman’s mind that if her guy buys a diamond at Helzberg - he is just a “regular” guy.

Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Netvouz
  • DZone
  • ThisNext
  • MisterWong
  • Wists
  • Bumpzee
  • Technorati
Buzz Marketing, General Marketing

llake said,

June 10, 2008 @ 2:37 pm

More here:
http://www.kansascity.com/500/story/656475.html

john said,

June 11, 2008 @ 9:40 am

Actually I think you can track the campaign via google. Search for jennifer marry me billboard. What is the first post that comes up?

http://www.lauralake.com/marry-me-billboard-style/80/

I would agree that it is most important that they back up their initial push with a decent follow up and it looks like they are failing to do that. But I think you yourself aided the “viral” part of the campaign, so how could you question its reach?

llake said,

June 11, 2008 @ 9:48 am

John,

Personally let me say, I love it when people leave anonymous comments.

You basically duplicated the same point I made:

“Actually I think you can track the campaign via google. Search for jennifer marry me billboard. What is the first post that comes up?

http://www.lauralake.com/marry-me-billboard-style/80/”

They did not back up the push, therefore from a viral campaign perspective it failed. People searched for it, yes - but they did not find Helzberg. That’s the problem with this campaign.

Let’s go back to my post:

“When it comes to an advertising concept, in order to work in a viral perspective, the concept needs to add value to the user’s experience. This value can be explicated in something entertaining, in something educational or in something rewarding. I agree that the billboard was entertaining, but does it fit in adding to the user’s experience?”

Where was the user’s experience? Where was the follow-through? They made people question the billboard to that I say “so what?” Do you really think it made them go buy engagement rings?

Hmmmmm….enquiring minds still wonder.

Rob Carlton said,

June 16, 2008 @ 12:50 pm

I have to disagree with you guys. Regardless of if it drives traffic to the web site or not, everyone in town knows about that billboard and once the responsible party was released, everyone was talking about it. Seriously, try and find someone in KC that doesn’t know about the Helzberg proposal billboard in downtown.

In today’s business world, it’s really easy to forget that good marketing doesn’t mean driving people to your web site, it’s goal is to get people talking and drive them to your stores. Good or bad, that billboard is creating a hell of a lot of buzz.

llake said,

June 16, 2008 @ 9:36 pm

Rob, I will again reiterate what I stated in the beginning in order for a viral marketing campaign to be successful

“When it comes to an advertising concept, in order to work in a viral perspective, the concept needs to add value to the user’s experience. This value can be explicated in something entertaining, in something educational or in something rewarding. I agree that the billboard was entertaining, but does it fit in adding to the user’s experience?”

Where was the user experience? There was certainly no follow-thru and how many people do you really think walked into Helzberg to purchase an engagement ring based on that campaign?

While the billboard stirred some buzz among the Kansas City circuit I wouldn’t call it positive buzz nor would I say that it drove people to their stores - especially women.

The marketing campaign had great potential with good execution, but poor follow-thru. I would not call that success.

Janice Walje said,

June 18, 2008 @ 11:51 am

“While the billboard stirred some buzz among the Kansas City circuit I wouldn’t call it positive buzz nor would I say that it drove people to their stores - especially women.”

Well, I think the obvious conclusion is that the Helzberg ads are not targeted toward women. That’s a given. I doubt the agency would be upset that women are not driven to their stores.

Also, not all advertising utilizes the web drive- which should be a given as well. Helzberg is a company that has a strong branding here in the Kansas City area, and is headed here. The web is not somewhere people would need to visit to complete the cycle. It would be going to the stores, and again- not all media would need to be tracked for this purpose. If they were looking to drive higher sales through online purchases- then they would not be going about it right. However, I doubt that many men purchase their engagement rings online without visiting in person.

Also- I am sure there are “missing keys” to this campaign, however this is a campaign- it integrates different mediums and we are fixating on the one billboard.

Also- you’re right- nobody knew the brand initially- which I believe engrains it moreso now that the brand is revealed. “Hey- did you see that proposal billboard? It has been up for several weeks now- that must have cost him a fortune… yada yada..” Now- “Hey- you know that proposal billboard? I guess it was Helzberg- ‘That guy proposes on a billboard…” Score 100 for brand recall.

Folks were simply searching for what was going on through internet searches PRIOR to the brand reveal. You won’t find that so much anymore. You can guarantee more folks will head to Helzberg or Barkley now.

I personally think this was excellent, highly creative, clever, and if nothing else did create a buzz. Purpose served. Bravo, Barkley.

Rob Carlton said,

June 18, 2008 @ 11:57 am

Laura,

In that regard, how do you measure the validity of any marketing campaign? I pass a laser hair removal billboard every day on my way to work and yet I’ve never “gone under the laser”. How do you measure the effectiveness of that billboard vs. the Helzberg billboard, vs. any other advertisment?

Secondly, in response to your comment “I wouldn’t call it positive buzz” please please don’t tell me you’re suggesting that there is such a thing as “bad buzz?” Getting people talking about your product has been a major goal of every marketing professional since the first caveman tried to sell the wheel to his neighbor. Horses playing football do not add to my happy hour experience, and yet Budweiser spends millions on super bowl ads every year. Are they totally ineffective also?

The bottom line is that Helzberg spent a couple of thosand dollars on a billboard, and got 107,000 views a day, plus newspaper coverage, plus word of mouth, plus blog posting after blog posting after blog posting. Pretty good return on investment in my book. No one in Kansas City is talking about Tivol, or Kay, or Zales. Everyone is talking about Helzberg.

RSS feed for comments on this post · TrackBack URI


Leave a Comment