Lindsey’s Daily Deal: Talking Dirty, Seeing Red and It’s You, Not Me

By Lindsey Campbell, Captains of Industry

Hey Captains’ Readers,

Here’s your Tuesday Deal:

1. Spirit likes to talk dirty

You know when you’re at a party or a social gathering and some wiseacre takes the witty banter to a whole new level? Rather than engaging in funny comebacks that everyone will enjoy, these social snipers have a license to verbally kill. Their retorts typically range from argumentative to downright offensive. And the sad part? They think they’re hilarious. Well unfortunately, these insensitive loudmouths exist in the ad world, too. Case and point, Spirit Airlines.

According to Briskman Stanfield of Beyond Madison Avenue, Spirit rocked some boats with their latest web promotion that made light of the Gulf Coast oil spill. The ad featured a few well-endowed babes oiled up in bikinis on various beaches. The headline read: “Check Out the Oil on Our Beaches.” It only took 24 hours until the ad was pulled. Spirit came back by saying that they never intended for the ad to exploit the Gulf disaster. In fact, they rebutted those claims with the old “if you saw something offensive, it’s because you have a dirty mind” routine. And if Spirit didn’t have a rich history of sexual innuendos within their advertising, I’d almost believe them. I.e. their campaign that used “M.I.L.F.,” which they translated as “Many Islands Low Fairs.” Or what about “We’re Having a Threesome” (referring to three fairs in one) and “We’re Proud of Our DD’s” (Deep Discounts)? And by far the most ridiculous, “M.U.F.F. Diving” (Many Unbelievably Fantastic Fares).

IMHO, they should just drop their acronym/double entendre shtick all together. It’s played out.

2. When you see a red fridge, you open it

I’m a sucker for a good guerilla campaign. Not only are they fun to experience, but the time, effort and thinking that goes into executing them takes a lot of guts. Which is why Seattle’s Best gets a special Captains’ shout out for their recent guerilla effort that involved a big red fridge, a few cans of Seattle’s Best Chilled Coffee and some interested morning commuters.

3. It’s You. Not me.

“I need some space” usually leads to “I think we should see other people,” which inevitably ends at “It’s not you, its me.” Well, guess what. It is you. And Paul Williams from MarketingProfs can tell you why.

Marketers spend so much time trying to make customers happy, that they completely forget that there are other brands out there trying to woo them. But fortunately there’s something that you can do so you never have to hear someone utter the words “Let’s be friends” again. Keep an eye on the competition. I know what you’re going to say. You think you and your brand are solid. Who could break you guys up? You’ve been together for years. But unfortunately for you, that’s the kind of attitude that can lead you to the above scenario. Most times, your competition will start offering something smarter, better looking, faster, or gasp, SEXIER than what you’ve got. So rather than waiting for the other shoe to drop, try scoping out what the dark side’s cooking up. Shop in your competitor’s stores, test their products, talk to their customers, or at least visit their website. Once you’ve figured out what they have that you don’t, you can anticipate what your customers might want or need before they’re seduced away by the competition.

Until tomorrow,

Captain Lindsey