Bad marketing decision
Mar. 11th, 2008 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amanda_loddenThis banner ad first caught my attention because the guy in it looks disturbingly like an old roommate who I am very glad to see gone. (I apologize heartily to the one person who will have a worse "Ack! Get it away!" reaction that I did.)
But what made me look twice was not the resemblance but rather the expression on the guy's face. This man looks like he's wondering whether he's totally screwed or just a little boned. What's going through his mind is one or more of the following:
* "Did I set the timer on that bomb for 15 seconds or 15 minutes? I hope I left myself time to get out of here."
* "Do you happen to know where the nearest bathroom is? I really need to know Right Now."
* "Did I switch to Vonage in my drunken stupor last night? Holy shit, how do I get out of that contract pronto?"
Regardless of which it is, it just does not inspire confidence in the advertised product. What marketing genius decided to use this picture?
However, I'm rather glad to see it, because we provide services to people who compete with Vonage, and I'm always happy to see customers being driven to my customers, as it gives them more income with which to pay me.
But what made me look twice was not the resemblance but rather the expression on the guy's face. This man looks like he's wondering whether he's totally screwed or just a little boned. What's going through his mind is one or more of the following:
* "Did I set the timer on that bomb for 15 seconds or 15 minutes? I hope I left myself time to get out of here."
* "Do you happen to know where the nearest bathroom is? I really need to know Right Now."
* "Did I switch to Vonage in my drunken stupor last night? Holy shit, how do I get out of that contract pronto?"
Regardless of which it is, it just does not inspire confidence in the advertised product. What marketing genius decided to use this picture?
However, I'm rather glad to see it, because we provide services to people who compete with Vonage, and I'm always happy to see customers being driven to my customers, as it gives them more income with which to pay me.
