Koodo Mobile WARNING: Very cheesy.

[Vector]

I'm not going to continue on with this debate, but I'm just going to point out that you make very many assumptions about what may happen. And you've also made assumptions about me.

I don't have the unlimited texting plan, I made my own plan... 100 anytime minutes, 50 txt messages, but I added 5pm evenings and weekends. I have a 9-5 job and I don't use my phone for work... so this is perfect. I have unlimited calling ability in the hours that I would actually be using the phone. I checked out the other plans, most of their 'evenings' start at 9pm! That's worthless to me. Plus, I do text from time to time and have people who text me, so it's important that there is SOME texting included with the plan. Basically, I do not want to pay any extra. I want a set bill every month that won't change because I fired off a couple dozen texts during the month. I also don't want to be locked into a contract. And I don't need a fancy phone. So there!

[Shawn]

^ Meh, for $40 a month Fido offers me free evenings, free weekends, free incoming calls, 100 weekday minutes, 50 free outgoing text messages, voicemail, caller ID and the ability for me to use any phone I want (thanks to GSM) here or across the globe.

CDMA FTL.

[Vector]

^ With Koodo, you have all that plus unlimited text messaging for 40 bucks.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by Vector

^ With Koodo, you have all that plus unlimited text messaging for 40 bucks.

Koodo has GSM world phones with swappable SIM cards? News to me.

[Wizegui]

Nope, it uses Telus's CDMA network. Since I don't use my phone that much, I just got a Rogers Pay as you Go plan. $100 a year, caller ID, voicemail, 1 cent evenings and weekends...perfect. The only downside is the rather hefty 39 cent normal rate per minute. Plus with GSM, I have the ability to use my friend's phone occasionally with my sim card in it too.

[BlaRo]

Jesus Christ toma, you're looking into this ad way too much. It's a tongue-in-cheek spoof of late night informercials, and unlike you it's not taking itself too seriously. I don't know anything about the company or its services itself but the ad is a cheesy spoof of something that's genuinely cheesy, and has nothing to do with "overweight people". The fact that you took that bit so seriously is why you rail against it so much.

[Shawn]

^ Informercial you say? My favourite is the Magic Bullet... it's so good, I don't even consider it an informercial. It's more akin to a great sitcom for me:

+ Google Video

The best part is how they managed to get Austin Powers to do the lead male's voice.

[GraemeH]

Evidently the concept of satire has passed most people here by...

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally Posted by GraemeH

Evidently the concept of satire has passed most people here by...

Satire is funny. These commercials/advertisements are just annoying.

[Wizegui]

They appeal to people who are as shallow as a parents who blame everything on video games.

[toma_alimosh]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

Jesus Christ toma, you're looking into this ad way too much. It's a tongue-in-cheek spoof of late night informercials, and unlike you it's not taking itself too seriously. I don't know anything about the company or its services itself but the ad is a cheesy spoof of something that's genuinely cheesy, and has nothing to do with "overweight people". The fact that you took that bit so seriously is why you rail against it so much.

Of course I am, I'm a marketing student for a reason, you know ...
And I took it a bit too seriously because a lot of people will. When looking at cellphone carriers, are people most happy and cheerful? Mind you, when people go shopping, especially women, they're quite happy. They're finally getting something that will make llife easier for them. Unfortunately, many studies show that people aren't as cheery when searching for deals, especially if those deals are on necessities and repeat expenses, such as gas and cellphone providers. It takes homework and at the end of the day you get a product that you need from day to day, not something you buy for your own enjoyment.
Because of that, most people are quite serious when looking for service providers which will serve them month after month. They want something with good service and good savings. Whether or not they have sense of humor is irrelevant.
And I'm sure overweight people who are sensitive towards the subject of losing weight will have a problem with this commercial. This commercial does not only throw dirt in the faces of fitness gurus, but also in the faces of those who attend fitness programs and the like out of personal need.

Originally Posted by GraemeH

Evidently the concept of satire has passed most people here by...

The concept has not escaped me. What bugs me is that they focused their advertising campaign into making a satire, instead of focusing on promoting their services, which is what they should be doing. They should have hired me to do their campaign. Even an undergrad short a few years of graduating could have done a better job.

[BlaRo]

Originally Posted by toma_alimosh

Of course I am, I'm a marketing student for a reason, you know ...
And I took it a bit too seriously because a lot of people will. When looking at cellphone carriers, are people most happy and cheerful? Mind you, when people go shopping, especially women, they're quite happy. They're finally getting something that will make llife easier for them. Unfortunately, many studies show that people aren't as cheery when searching for deals, especially if those deals are on necessities and repeat expenses, such as gas and cellphone providers. It takes homework and at the end of the day you get a product that you need from day to day, not something you buy for your own enjoyment.
Because of that, most people are quite serious when looking for service providers which will serve them month after month. They want something with good service and good savings. Whether or not they have sense of humor is irrelevant.

As a marketing student then you should understand why it's important to mask the unpleasant details and hidden contracts with services such as these. The whole point of a campaign like this is to lure people in by announcing their features in a satirical manner; whether they can deal with the hidden expenses later comes later. And what's wrong with it? It's campy and cheesy but it still gets their services across. The customer's already been suckered into the stores, and anything from there is the salesmen's job.

Originally Posted by Shawn

^ Informercial you say? My favourite is the Magic Bullet... it's so good, I don't even consider it an informercial. It's more akin to a great sitcom for me:

My friends have one of those...they use it for grinding up weed. Just sayin', it could be a whole new demographic.

[toma_alimosh]

Originally Posted by BlaRo

As a marketing student then you should understand why it's important to mask the unpleasant details and hidden contracts with services such as these. The whole point of a campaign like this is to lure people in by announcing their features in a satirical manner; whether they can deal with the hidden expenses later comes later. And what's wrong with it? It's campy and cheesy but it still gets their services across. The customer's already been suckered into the stores, and anything from there is the salesmen's job.

As a marketing student I also know that cellphone services is a "shopping" type of service, in that most if not all people will do a lot of homework before they reach the decision of which one they'll choose. They will go to their websites, they will read every bottom line, they will ask friends, they will read magazine reviews and they will look at reference groups before they reach their decision. Somewhere along the way, they will find out all the advantages and disadvantages, regardless of what the promotion campaign says. Mind you, the promotion campaign still plays a huge role on the company's image and the purchasing decision, even if not as much as the quality/price ratio.

EDIT:
Mind you, right now we're talking about promotion for a "shopping" service. The point of that is to get their services into your considerations list so that when you do the research, they're one of the companies you will research. But the point here is not just to make themselves noticed, but to put across why their services are better than that of the competition. They fail at that through this campaign. There's a few steps that go into promoting a product, which is especially true for advertising: 1. The source (company) encodes the message it tries to get across. 2. The message is transmitted through a channel of communication. 3. The message is decoded by the receiver (potential customer).
The flaw lies in how they encoded the message and how the audience decodes it can be quite different. The way they did that was they hid their messages inside this sattire which mocks the fitness infomercials one might see on TV. The reason I say they "hid" the messages is because until the end of the commercial, they don't make these messages apparent. They hid their most important messges, such as "no more access fee" in a context where people pay little attention to what the "show host" is saying, but rather the way he behaves, the way he says it, the way he's dressed, the way he presents it ... etc. The problem comes that, at the decoding point, people don't hear the message that Koodo wants to get across. They laugh at the commercial, they pay attention to all the the wrong things, because that's what sticks out and at the end all they hear is that there's a new cell provider in town named Koodo, but they hear no reason whatsoever to include Koodo in their considerations list.

[bobo_1314]

The last time I've seen such poor and cheesy advertisement was when I was a little kid; those ads were on TV all the time. Fortunately things have changed quite a bit for the past few decades, until now........

[Vector]

If you're studying advertising you will know that informative based ads are not as effective as ads that appeal to a person's baser senses and emotions. It's completely the opposite of what you would logically think... and that's the point. Most people do not think logically and make decisions based on how they 'feel' about something. So that is why most ads these days are very short on substance and big on bullshit.

[toma_alimosh]

Originally Posted by Vector

If you're studying advertising you will know that informative based ads are not as effective as ads that appeal to a person's baser senses and emotions. It's completely the opposite of what you would logically think... and that's the point. Most people do not think logically and make decisions based on how they 'feel' about something. So that is why most ads these days are very short on substance and big on bullshit.

Yes, I mentioned earlier that many of today's purchasing desision are based more on emotions than on logic. However, the purchasing based on emotions is because a certain purchase makes the customer feel better about themselves.

Take for example the purchasing of a Rolls Royce. There's no basic reason for purchasing one. There's nothing a Rolls Royce can do that a Merc S600 can't do. In fact, a Merc S600 can do lots more... for a much less price. But people still buy Rolls Royce cars because they're a status symbol. It makes them look like they have lots of money, status, power, what-have-you.

Koodo's commercials and positioning don't show anything that will give any advantage to people. How would you brag to others about it: "Oh look, I have a phone network with a sense of humor"? How does that make you feel better? "Oh look, I am opposing all the cheesy infomercials in the world by having a Koodo phone"?
I can't find anything that would add any value, so what emotions would the commercials be playing on to make them increase the number of their subscriptions?

I don't think they are appealing very well to any emotional states, nor are they getting their message across very well. Only cutomers who are extremely thorough in their research would know Koodo's advantages and disadvantages well.

[Vector]

I'm not going to disagree with you that the ads are stupid. They are stupid, but I like them better than all the other stupid ads out there. That's why I find your nitpicking so ridiculous. There is much much worse out there put out by some very successful companies. Why just pick on Koodo? They're just trying to get noticed like everyone else. And you know what? It's working. We wouldn't be having a 2 page discussion about it if it weren't .

[toma_alimosh]

I pick on it so much because it pisses me off. There are other, more annoying and worse made ads around .... but you don't have to see them every time you leave your house. Every bus station in my town has a Koodo ad on it; every single one. There's no inch of any mall that doesn't have a Koodo ad hanging somewhere. And you should really see the subway right out of my university and what I have to look at every time I go to school or the Toronto Eaton Centre. And when I drive and seek an escape from everything, guess what? every 20-30 minutes it manages to come up on the radio, as if they didn't have any better commercials to broadcast. Then when I turn on the TV, I see it there too. When I saw it advertised on the web, I just said "That's the last straw!!" and now I'm bent on taking their gaddamn campaign off the air. There's no reason for injecting the whole of society with that kind of cheese.