Sep
29
2006Balloon Marketing - My Take
29
2006
Someone on Flickr hypothetically asked what Seth Godin might think about balloons being used to sell cars. Seth not so hypothetically responded on his blog, basically saying: “Because it looks like [they’re] trying.”
Not a bad answer, but I think it goes a little deeper than that.
Where does one usually see balloons? At special events. Balloons imply that a special event is currently happening. At a place of business, “special event” usually implies “really good sale.” A car purchase is a huge expense, and most people would like to think that they’re smart enough to hold out for a really great sale before buying a car. Of course, the balloons don’t always mean any particularly great sale is actually happening (what car dealership would ever claim there is NOT some sort of sale going on when you walk through the door?), but the subconscious response could easily be enough to get the prospective customer onto the lot - old fashioned high-pressure sales tactics can take it from there.
I work in advertising at am autodealership that loves to use balloons. I would like to see some real data on how the public respondes to them. Do they sell excitement or does it lable us as just another car lot?
Lincoln 2/9/07 @ 4:41 pmUnfortunately, I have no real data to offer you, but I highly doubt they do any harm. It would be interesting to run an experiment with balloons one week and no balloons the next (assuming neither week had any financial significance, like the end of the year, nor did the weeks have differing promotions). Measure the incoming foot traffic each week, and you might have something resembling an answer.
Jeff 2/9/07 @ 10:57 pm