Getting rewards for buying gas, soda or apples - GOOD

Enrolling my credit card at Citgoblahblahblah.com, or “scan” a QR code - NOT GOOD

Then, I need to make EIGHT SEPARATE $20 purchases ($160 or more)
to earn $15 - NOT GOOD ENOUGH

When designing a retail promotion, always bring a healthy level of respect for the consumer, what they will or won’t do for a “reward”.  Few people will go through all this BS - the time & effort required aren’t worth the rewards, good or otherwise.  If Citgo expects any real buzz or participation they either need a much bigger carrot to get people to act (saving $50, or better yet a “free tank of gas”), or fewer hoops for consumers to jump through (registering your card is an unrealistic, multi-step process almost no one will take, not to mention all those follow up purchases). 

For the record, if I bother to do anything with Citgo and my “enrolled” card they should credit me immediately, upon the transaction; check out AMEX’s approach, they partnered with 4square to do the GOOD version of this promo - http://bit.ly/toPOZz - just charge your bill, “check-in” & get $10.

Getting rewards is good, no doubt.  Running poorly designed promotions is bad - for business, and your brand.

As a wise man once said, no one goes to step 2.

#hopelessadvertising

LinkedIn, as someone who once ran the Monster.com ad account globally, I am impressed with how you’ve fundamentally reinvented the world of job search.  I particularly commend you on the ju jitsu focus on the passive seeker, rather than the active job hunters, that model is less relevant by the day, to the point where resumes have become LinkedIn profiles for so many. 

Your in house ads?  Not so much. 

If connecting people to brands was as easy as fill-in-the-blanks and two way arrows, I’d be out of a job.

#hopelessadvertising

Actual LinkedIn ad unit

Don’t forget the why.

If it was as easy as “insert brand here” & some two way arrows, I’d be out of a job.

Value to drive the consumer to act aka currency aka WHY isn’t something you can manufacture in a template layout - and frankly I don’t trust or more importantly believe in the benefit of “interesting, relevant updates about Samsung” as commensurate to overcoming the hurdle of me following a company on LinkedIn. It may only in reality be an extra click, but in terms of relationships I don’t follow companies on their platform and not sure why I would - I’m there for the common professional forum for connecting to colleagues I’ve worked with and for.

If you want me to start behaving differently, show me why in your advertising, why I should care about following impersonal companies vs people I know and have a professional relationship with, why your offering is really interesting, differentiated or unique in a way that’s “worth it”, not just the how.  

You could argue we as professionals are the product, and advertising revenue made by LinkedIn to peddle our eyeballs to these companies is the real transaction taking place, but even still beyond sheer numbers Samsung is not getting much real value acquiring fill-in-the-blanks followers.

#hopelessadvertising

@LinkedIn, your ads lack nuance, relevance via retargeting (I’ve never once searched for a Dell product or clicked an ad), or any real consumer benefit, but Rosser Reeves would sure be proud.

#hopelessadvertising