Groupon responds to consumer uproar over Super Bowl ads
After getting a load of negative feedback for its Super Bowl XLV ads, daily deals giant Groupon is taking a stand and defending its shameless self promotion.
The commercial, which cost Groupon $3 million, pokes fun at the troubles going on in Tibet, while at the same time promoting the company?s daily deals initiative. Groupon responded to consumer uproar via its blog, where it said that the company took the approach knowing that, if anything, it would bring more funding and support to the causes it highlighted in the commercials.
?That?s why organizations like Greenpeace, buildOn, The Tibet Fund, and the Rainforest Action Network all decided to throw their support behind the campaign,? said Andrew Mason, CEO of Groupon, Chicago, in a blog post. ?In fact, the feedback led us to make changes to the end of our ads that further encourage our fundraising.
?To that point, if the ads affected you, we hope you?ll head over to SaveTheMoney.org and make a donation, which we?ll match ? we?re hoping to raise a lot of money,? he said.
Groupon commercials
Groupon ran three commercials.
The first one, which was featured during the Super Bowl XLV game, poked fun at Tibet, but acknowledged the fact that consumers can still get $30 worth of Tibetan food for just $15 at a Himalayan Restaurant in Chicago.
The second commercial addressed the problems with the Brazilian rainforest, but highlighted a 50 percent discount on a Brazilian wax.
The third commercial was directed at the dwindling number of whales. However, consumers can save money by purchasing a Groupon for whale-watching ? which was initially $86 ? for just $49.
?I?ve been spending the day listening to the negative feedback about our Tibet Super Bowl commercial, and want to take a crack at explaining why we created this campaign,? Mr. Mason wrote in the blog post. ?We take the causes we highlighted extremely seriously ? that?s why we created this campaign in partnership with many hallmark community organizations, for whom we?re raising money at SaveTheMoney.org.
?Groupon?s roots are in social activism ? we actually began as cause-based Web site called The Point, and we continue to use Groupon to support local causes with our G-Team initiative,? he said. ?In our two short years as a business, we?ve already raised millions of dollars for national charities like Donors Choose and Kiva.?
According to Mr. Mason, consumers do not walk away from the company?s commercials taking the causes it highlighted less seriously.
?Not a single person watched our ad and concluded that it?s cool to kill whales,? Mr. Mason said in the blog. ?In fact ? and this is part of the reason we ran them ? they have the opposite effect.
?Why make fun of ourselves? Because it?s different ? ads are traditionally about shameless self promotion, and we?ve always strived to have a more honest and respectful conversation with our customers,? he said. ?We would never have run these ads if we thought they trivialized the causes ? even if we didn?t take them as seriously as we do, what type of company would go out of their way to be so antagonistic?
?The last thing we wanted was to offend our customers ? it?s bad business and it?s not where our hearts are.?
Serious thinking
According to industry experts, the fact that Groupon?s Mr. Mason blogged about the ads says that the company does indeed take ethical and environmental issues extremely seriously.
Mike Hughes, analyst at Datamonitor, London, suggests that the company?s desired message was perhaps lost in translation.
?What will be interesting to see is whether the adverts prompted a significant increase in Internet traffic on the company?s Web site from those interested to find out more about Groupon ? and how many of those return to take advantage of the offers available,? Mr. Hughes said.
?The company has managed to gain nationwide exposure and buzz towards the Groupon brand, but the fact that Mr. Mason has had to defend the adverts suggests that perhaps the edgy humor was too much for some,? he said.
?However, given that Groupon can back up its ethicality claims, then the adverts are unlikely to create any short-term damage to the brand and successfully raise awareness of the company in the long-run.?
On the right track
According to Ross Kimbarovsky, cofounder of crowdSpring, Chicago, the Groupon ads were a touch risqué, but well done.
?Groupon has a quirky and eccentric personality and voice ? it?s evident in their site copy, press releases and nearly everything they say and do,? Mr. Kimbarovsky said. ?The ads were consistent with that personality and voice.
?Some people thought the ads were a bit offensive, but the ads were, without a doubt, effective,? he said.
Mr. Kimbarovsky believes that the Super Bowl commercial has affected the company in a positive way.
Groupon introduced its brand to a huge group of potential new customers and that is why companies pay millions of dollars to advertise during the Super Bowl in the first place.
?From the star, Groupon intended to leverage social media to support and extend the impact of the Super Bowl ads,? Mr. Kimbarovsky said. ?People ignore boring ads and smart companies don?t waste millions of dollars running ads that will be ignored.
Mr. Kimbarovsky said that the charitable aspects of Groupon?s campaign was not obvious in the original ads and is something that Groupon could have emphasized better in its first attempt.
?Had they done so, it would have been more obvious that Groupon was highlighting important causes and doing it in a way that would get people to talk about Groupon and those causes,? Mr. Kimbarovsky said.
?Smart companies make adjustments and that?s precisely what Groupon did immediately following the Super Bowl,? he said. ?The result is that more people today are talking about Groupon ? and about Tibet, deforestation and extinction.?
Victor Siegel, president and chief operating officer of VerveLife, Miami, agrees with Mr. Kimbarovsky and says that Groupon?s commercials were clever and fit with the company?s overall personality.
?Clearly the category is getting hotter from a consumer standpoint, so I think the fact they took made the leap forward is a big step,? Mr. Siegel said. ?I thought the ads were pretty lighthearted and clever ? which seems pretty consistent with their whole brand personality.?
