Some companies–Apple, for example–excel at marketing, while others kind of suck. Yahoo! falls squarely into the latter group. Take this massive ad I found gracing their login screen today.
First, last time I checked, hipster-types likes these folks don’t self-identify as TV lovers. In fact, they’re more likely to insist they don’t own a TV at all. And then there’s the copy: “If you love TV, then you’re gonna love us.” This is the kind of prose that you’d expect to emerge from the Marketing class at your local community college.
And again, what kind of person says they “love TV”? That’s like saying you love the idea of plopping down on a couch and staring at a glowing box to the attentive exclusion of whatever might be happening around you. People like shows and name them. People like characters or actors or keeping up with current events or learning how to cook. The only people who love “TV” are those who might spell it with six letters.
And why is her finger on the power button?
January 1, 2011 at 2:14 pm
Good one there. And why are they staring in different directions? They even messed up that tired old phrase to give it less impact. You’d think “if you LIKE x” then “you’ll LOVE y” might work just a little better.
February 21, 2011 at 7:19 pm
Maybe the ad exactly means what it says:
if you’re one of those dull people, who actually would say things like “I love TV”, then you will probably also be daft enough to like Yahoo! TV.
That could be one of the most honest ads I’ve ever seen…;-)