The ad is for Epinions!
Written: Mar 10 '00 (Updated Apr 11 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Does a good job of emphasizing Epinions.com
Cons: Perhaps not enough references to Epinions, everyone seems focused on the product rather than Epinions
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| counsel's Full Review: Tent |
This ad is an effective vehicle for drawing people to Epinions. While I might add a few more subliminal references to the Epinions site, such as a black screen with the URL (with carwash sound in the background) at the start of the ad, that's a minor point. The ad points out the main message - real people are placing product reviews on Epinions, and you can read those reviews if you go there.
Many people are remarking on this ad's effectiveness in promoting the tent; the same observations are true of the other ads offered for review. Most of the reviews I've read on the TV ads seem to be focused on how well the ad is promoting the product being reviewed. May I please point out - that's not the purpose of the ad. While I think the manufacturers of these products stand to gain (or lose, depending on the rating) from these promotions, the point needs to be reinforced that the ads are primarily to bring people to Epinions.com, and secondarily (if at all) to hawk the product on display.
The question to be asked is "How well does this ad point people to Epinions.com?" Not "Is this a good tent?"
Thus you have a guy running his tent through a carwash, another guy shooting an iMac, a lady using a breast pump, and the hilarious snow boarding ad, which probably draws more attention to the ski area and less to Epinions than the other ads. The ads are not about the products, except as they relate to the mission of Epinions. In that sense, this "Tent" ad does a fine job - it makes the point that Epinions.com is the place to go to get product reviews from regular folks. Good work on this one.
Recommended:
Yes
Would visit Shopping.com? Yes
Increase or decrease trust in Shopping.com? Increase
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Epinions.com ID:
counsel
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: Dwight
Location: Houston
Reviews written: 117
Trusted by: 501 members
About Me:
If I smell flowers, I start looking around for a coffin.
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