I once went on a \”first date\” with a weird guy that was planned at a trendy restaurant – and then when we met up, he kept raving about the wonderful cheap Thai food he\’d had just before arriving. Uh, I thought the point of having a date at a restaurant was to, you know, eat there? I honestly wasn\’t looking for a free meal; I was just starving after a long day at work, and was willing to \”go Dutch.\” The dude kept saying he was full but that I could get food by myself. By then I think I would\’ve choked on it\”¦
Suffice it to say, I wanted a way to get the heck outta dodge gracefully. Friends had offered to call my mobile in order to check up on me and, if necessary, provide me an alibi to leave – but their planned calls weren\’t going to happen nearly soon enough. Memories of that ordeal came bubbling up recently when I saw a new campaign from DiGiorno, called \”The Ditcher.\”
Basically, the campaign entices consumers to fill out an online form so that they can receive a phone call or text-message (or, I guess for those who socialize at Internet cafés, email) at a designated time. The consumer can then use the message as a reason to leave the people he/she is with. The premise is that you use The Ditcher when you want to go home and enjoy DiGiorno\’s \”For One\” pizza by yourself. But I\’m thinking people will have innumerable motives for using The Ditcher, not one of them related to food!
There are many reasons why I love DiGiorno\’s new marketing campaign, both as a consumer and as a marketer:
- It provides a useful and unique service.
- Because it requires contact information (cell phone number or email address) it\’s a way to boost the company\’s marketing database – and create even more affective campaigns in the future.
- It\’s multi-channel, driving consumers from a popular website (I saw the ad on MySpace), to a company microsite, and possibly to the brand\’s official site – and getting them to later engage via voice, SMS, or email.
- It\’s interactive – users can choose exactly what \”excuse\” they\’d like to give to the people whom they want to ditch.
- It\’s just plain fun!
Ooops, gotta go, just got a text from my great-aunt who needs me to get something off a high shelf for her. Yeah, that\’s the ticket.
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*slurping of pizza* *gasp of pain from molten cheese*
Eydie Cubarrubia
Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm
“I’d rather you text me”