Here’s a brief wrap-up of some of this past week’s marketing news…
According to BrandWeek, Groupon has decided to pull it’s ridiculous Save the Money ad campaign that the dotcom debuted during this year’s Super Bowl. The first one starred Timothy Hutton…
How they didn't recognize their poor taste is what has us stumped.
It’s hard to believe that they had produced more than one ad. If the second ad did run during the game, I must have been spared on the day, but sure as water is wet it popped up on my set a couple of days later. So if you thought there was just one crappy Groupon ad floating around here’s proof that there’s another [Ed. Keep your barf bag handy.]:
Makes you wonder how many installments they had planned. We’re glad to see them go; although, it would have been interesting to see what other actors would have followed Hutton, and Cuba Gooding Jr. in contributing to this most awesomely distasteful mess.
AdAge reported on Sports Illustrated’s plans to sack it’s print-only subscriptions. Sometime soon you will only be able to subscribe to the combined print + digital package of the venerable sports pub. In other words, the latest tactic is to shove digital down our throats even if Apple is out to screw everyone with their corrupt subscription model and the wait for a viable [Ed. No, make that "99% comparable."] alternative to the iPad is set to continue somewhat indefinitely—or at least until the Fall.
Finally, eConsultancy noted that Bing has copied it’s arch rival once again. It’s not what you’re thinking though. This time it’s just about Microsoft’s search engine adding personalization and localization features that have been present in Google for some time. What’s wrong with making your product just as good as the other guy’s? It’s coming up with something new and useful and popular that’s tough.
That’s it for this week. Stop by next Sunday for the next weekly wrap-up. Until then, happy marketing!