Comments on: Ogilvy-inspired-but-Sleaze-ified Tricks

By: new deals

new deals — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:56:28 +0000

Seems like a clever trick, but I doubt it will have a great deal of impact on the product sales.

By: Los Angeles DUI Lawyer

Los Angeles DUI Lawyer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:48:02 +0000

Nice tricks but I feel a bit sleazy using them LOL

By: law firm websites

law firm websites — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 22:45:48 +0000

Didn’t know about this, thanks!

By: Los Angeles Web Design

Los Angeles Web Design — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:07:19 +0000

I trust the ad – it’s got intrinsic value.

By: kerkoj pune

kerkoj pune — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:09:29 +0000

also the layout and template makes it look un-professional, making one believe that it was really done by a mother of two kids, who has little web design skills.

By: Seværdigheder London

Seværdigheder London — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:13:32 +0000

A very interesting case.

It is like the “girl next door”. But do I trust the ad – I don’t think so…

By: Property Management Software

Property Management Software — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 16:26:05 +0000

those anti wrinkle cream ads are awful. The before/after pictures are frankly IMPOSSIBLE! I’m glad I have adblock pro to block them out for the most part. Definite de-sleazing is necessary for them.

By: Jayne=UTI_REMEDY

Jayne=UTI_REMEDY — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:53:13 +0000

I think that the idea of creating a new hometown when a new user comes on is a great idea! I would definatley be more keen to use a product that has been used by someone in my area, and the scheme used by the ad really tackles women’s insecurities.
Good campaign i say.

By: rachel_marketing

rachel_marketing — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:49:23 +0000

To answer your question I would in no way be sawyed by the apearence of a “hometown girl” on an add for “in a bottle botox.”
The lengths that some advertisers go to in order to sell a ridiculous product amazes me!
Nice employment of your advertising tips though! good to see they’re going to a worth while companys cause!
Great post, shows how ridiculous some campaigns are!

By: Are Two Products More Credible Than One? - News: Everything-e

Are Two Products More Credible Than One? - News: Everything-e — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:57:42 +0000

[...] my initial post on blog-ified and geographically falsified landing pages, I ran into a few more such pages and they all shared the “2-product combo with a free trial [...]

By: Are Two Products More Credible Than One? | FutureNow's GrokDotCom / Marketing Optimization Blog

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:51:14 +0000

[...] my initial post on blog-ified and geographically falsified landing pages, I ran into a few more such pages and they all shared the “2-product combo with a free trial [...]

By: Brett Gilbertson

Brett Gilbertson — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:24:33 +0000

IMHO most people pay way too much attention to techniques, and very little to Authenticity.

Shock Marketer says: “This would appear more authentic, and would be very easy to do.

Authenticity is key.”

Appearing more authentic is not authentic.

By: JP

JP — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:24:54 +0000

You can geotarget the visitor without outright lying. Instead of directly claiming to be from “Anytown”, an obviously fraudulent claim, the ’spokesperson’ could work in the visitor target area in the sales copy a little more subtly. For example, a statement like “many women in Anytown have tried (product name) and been delighted with the results.”

Slightly less evil

By: Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:45:01 +0000

I want to add to the Dave/Jeff thread about dating sites using hometowns. When I worked in social media/ dating, we commonly used names to attract local interest, but just as important, we actually served real images from that zip code, so the faces were in fact from their area listed. So although the business model is different, a level of trust is still expected between image and hometown link. In our work, when consumers clicked, they ended up on that person’s page, with hometown and other info… then were asked to join when they tried to contact. So, in my experience, using hometown can be a great idea and can be done effectively _as well as_ honestly.

By: Jeff Sexton

Jeff Sexton — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:54:36 +0000

Stephen,

My apologies for the messed up curly quotes. I used to type my blog posts in MS Word and then (supposedly) strip the formating gobbledygook by running it through text edit. Seems the evil MS product wouldn’t let go of its gobbledygook so easily, though. I’ll be composing directly in Word Press from now on.

As for contacting me, feel free to twitter me @JeffSexton.

By: Karl Foxley

Karl Foxley — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:08:38 +0000

I found this post really interesting. It amazes the lengths that people will go to make a sale. Surely building a reputation as an honest marketer is always going to be so much more profitable in the long run.

Thanks for posting.

Karl

By: Stephen

Stephen — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:02:22 +0000

I’ve emailed you about this several times but without a response. (You may consider a contact us form on your web site other than the lead generation one.)

In your email newsletters please learn how to properly encode special characters such as curly quotes (double and single). It makes you come off a bit on the amateurish side when this is supposed to be a core competency.

By: Tony Buford

Tony Buford — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:49:26 +0000

And just to add to the sleaze. We all know that they’re quoting something from the “Barbera Walters Special”, which may just slightly conflict with a special by someone who spells her name “Barbara”.
An accident? Not likely.

By: This weeks cool links - March 2, 2009

This weeks cool links - March 2, 2009 — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:57:18 +0000

[...] Ogilvy-inspired-but-Sleaze-ified TricksFebruary 24, 2009 [...]

By: Joshua Briley

Joshua Briley — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:18:10 +0000

This is not the same concept Seth Godin preaches in his book “All Marketers Are Liars”… not even close. The premise is that consumers are the ones who lie to themselves. You may want to have another look at that book.

By: Ed Kohler

Ed Kohler — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 20:43:58 +0000

I’ve seen some recent cases of this for “Google Cash” related get rick quick schemes. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. While someone running a get rich scheme doesn’t have a brand to destroy, this sort of thing could get ugly if done by a large brand.

By: valencio

valencio — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:17:41 +0000

All marketers are not liars. Its a perception that has been created by some unscrupulous elements

Valencio
http://www.EmailCharger.com

By: brad

brad — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:25:44 +0000

These sites work, plain and simple. The blog editorial pages have been used for several months now; and the little touches like GEO can increase conversion rates a fair amount.

To answer the question above about why not create the geo pages; these sites are built for paid traffic. They are often churn and burn domains. This technique won’t last forever, and it’s not worth doing the SEO in the highly competitive diet industry for most of these sites.

There’s a few of these blog-like sites out there that are only driving traffic via paid sources, and many of them are top 4k compete sites.

By: Susan Weinschenk

Susan Weinschenk — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:29:24 +0000

Just like I write in my book, social validation is powerful stuff…. people are swayed by what others say, or in this case what they THINK others say..

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:47:53 +0000

Lindsay,

I very much agree. While there are gray areas when it comes to marketing and persuasion, outright lying is not one of them – it’s dishonest by anyone’s standards.

Dave,

The dating/adult sites are a different model. Of course home town makes a difference if you are actually looking to connect with that person. But Jenny Perfect Skin is plugging products that, on a rational level, could be delivered anywhere without any kind of felt difference to the customer.

- Jeff