Buzzworthy advertising, but mediocre execution
An interesting email reached my inbox the other day from FullTilt Poker, where I sometimes play online poker. It's purpose was to promote FullTilt ads, with the subject line, "Check out the ads we couldn't pay them to run.."
Now, I can see why they couldn't get mainstream media to show these ads, but the thing that I'm left wondering is why they don't do a bit better job of promoting the viral aspects of this advertising. They're funny, controversial and from the company's perspective, they'd like to get them out there right? Why then, is the "Email a friend" only at the top and a bit too generic in title? Wouldn't it be better to say something like "Share these with a friend" or "Test your friend's poker face" - something a bit more telling in intent. Additionally, they should have an input box for email addresses already available, with your cursor in it, making it more natural to share.
Finally, what I'd really like to see these guys do is to embed a link that was clickable at the end of the video and upload it to YouTube , Yahoo! Video and others. If you go check those two sources out, for example, you'll find the videos, but it appears that they're uploaded by others. I think in this scenario, Full Tilt should have proactively posted the videos and enable the ads to actually be actionable ads, in addition to being entertainment to be shared.
Just my $.02
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