Compare the Market have a TV ad running in the UK at the moment:
I have to say I was a little unconvinced.
I felt that it was kind of trying too hard to appeal to bloggers like me… I could picture the agency in the pitch saying - “It’ll be brilliant! It’s kooky and fun and people will link to it…”
Ordinarily, I really wouldn’t have done. I just don’t think it’s that funny…
BUT
My mind was changed when I read a post from SEOptimise re this campaign.
I decided to go Google “compare the meerkat”
I was pleasantly surprised.
They’ve built a little site where you actually can compare the meerkat
It’s actually pretty good and Aleksandr’s personality is much more developed online. They’ve obviously really had fun creating the website.
For example, whilst you are waiting for the site to compare the meerkat he says things like “I am backing betmax. It’s the future”
So I had a little play on the site to select my perfect meerkat. After much deliberation I’m gonna go with Stampkat - his particulars are below:
“There is no bigger collection of stamps than the collection of stamps belonging to Stampkat. From olden stamps to commemorative stamps to just normal ordinary stamps, Stampkat has all the stamps.
This meerkat surveys vast African land space from highest vantage point. On tip of toe. On head of giraffe. In high heels borrowed from 80’s fashion icon Grace Joneski.”
But they’ve not stopped there. They’ve also created profiles for him on Twitter and Facebook. I have to say the Facebook page isn’t all that, but I’m really impressed with the Twitter profile - whoever’s managing it is making a real effort to engage and converse with the community, rather than treating it like another broadcast channel.
I’m very impressed. So impressed in fact, that as you can see - I’ve linked to this stuff left, right and Charlie.
So why do brands do this sort of thing?
Well - it gets people talking about the brand, which will probably lead to increased brand recognition. It also gets them lots of lovely links (albeit to the compare the meerkat site). I assume that at some point, once the campaign’s over they’ll redirect all the lovely link juice to Compare the Market.
Powerful stuff this social media marketing eh?
on Jan 13th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I got:
Frisbeekat
Don’t try to tell Frisbeekat that Ultimate Frisbee isn’t real sport. It takes speed, agile limbs and ability to fight off dogs in park. At school, Frisbeekat was made fun of by soccer players, but who is laugh now?
This meerkat surveys vast African land space from highest vantage point. On tip of toe. On head of giraffe. In high heels borrowed from 80’s fashion icon Grace Joneski.
————————–
My thoughts:
It’s not bad, I mean I watched the little Youtube vid in your post and i went to the site. Would I mention it to a friend? Yes I probably would, I may even send them an email or post a link to it on facebook. Would i go back to the site? probably not, unless im showing someone else. Will i forget about it in a week or so? Well to be honest I probably will unless it becomes some massive phenomenon… which i dont see happening. What are your thoughts? Will we still be talking about this in a couple of weeks or is that not the intention?
What’s next Goat-searcher!?
on Jan 13th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Yay! A real human being comment! Woo hoo! You get a lollypop for not being a son of a b*tch spammer.
Like you, I don’t think we’ll be talking about this in weeks to come; however that’s not really the intention. There’s more at stake here - e.g.:
I’d be really interested to see if Compare the Market measured spontaneous brand recognition before and after - to see if this campaign has had any affect… I’d like to think that it might have done - maybe they’ve gained some ground versus the other aggregator sites.
As a result I’d also expect them to see more branded search traffic coming their way.
I’ve just checked on Google, and there appear to be over 2200 links to Compare the Meerkat; which as I said will doubtlessly be re-directed to Compare the Market at some point. Not bad - huh?
on Jan 23rd, 2009 at 11:53 pm
I think the idea behind it is great, with so many market comparision sites, im glad that something new has popped up.
Its working, even kids at my college are talking about it, so no matter how long it lasts, i think its done the job.
Simples!
on Jan 30th, 2009 at 9:49 pm
the new ad has been exclusively released online first before tv - http://www.comparethemarket.com
hope that you enjoy the ad and alek’s tweets!
and thanks for the blog post about the campaign.
on Jan 31st, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Hi Amelia,
Thanks for stopping by.
I’m more than a little disappointed that you’ve chosen to spam my blog with a link to compare the market though.
If your intention is to direct me to the new ad - why does the link you’ve posted not lead there?
To my mind this is a really quick way to alienate bloggers… shame huh?
I’ve written a post on this: http://www.anewdayanewdawn.co.uk/2009/01/compare-the-market-engage-in-some-ill-advised-blog-spamming/
on Jan 31st, 2009 at 2:29 pm
[...] may recall that I recently wrote a very complimentary post on Compare the Market’s Compare the Meerkat [...]
on Feb 2nd, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Hi Hannah
I work with Amelia at the advertising agency that created this campaign (VCCP)and have just come across these comments. This link given was an honest typo as we only launched the online preview of the new TV ad on the comparethemeerkat site here: http://www.comparethemeerkat.com/tv-ad.html
Thanks
on Feb 3rd, 2009 at 9:35 am
Hi Katie,
Many thanks for taking the time to reply.
I’m not sure that I quite believe that it was a typo - the premise that even your own agency staff are were confusing ‘compare the market’ with ‘compare the meerkat’ seems unlikely in the extreme.
I know that’s the premise of the ads, but I think we’re all big enough and ugly enough to recognise that it’s nothing but a cute idea for a campaign.
I might be more will to accept this as a typo if the link posted was something like comparethemarket.com/tv-ad.html; but it’s not - it’s a link direct to the homepage.
Nice try though love.
I can picture the scene now:
“Uh oh - one of those pesky bloggers has noticed we’ve dropped a link to compare the market”
“Gah - don’t sweat it - just pop a reply back that it’s just a typo”
“Erm, I’m not sure the blogger will buy that”
“Course they will - it’s a perfectly reasonable explanation”
on Feb 4th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Hi there - (and thank you Katie for the post whilst I was out!) There shouldn’t be any spamming at all. I found your blog, saw that you liked the first ad and wanted to pass on the link to the new one that was being launched online first.
Apologies if this wasn’t what you wanted. As a blogger myself, having people finding my blog and leaving comments and links generally adds something to the conversation.
Again, sorry if this was not the case.
ATB
- Amelia
on Feb 4th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
Hi Amelia,
I feel like we’re going round in circles here.
I would not have felt any ill will about a comment contained a link to the new ad. However, the comment didn’t.
If it was a typo then fair enough.
You say it was, I’m not so sure - perhaps that’s something on which we’re going to have to agree to differ.
With regard to your second point - I of course welcome people commenting, adding relevant links and participating. That’s what it’s all about.
on Feb 4th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
Katie, and checked link. You are totally right, I meant to post the link direct to the My TV ads bit of the site not to the home page.
Again, my bad.
on Feb 6th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
GEIKO
on Feb 9th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Hannah, I think you are not being fair to Amelia. As far as I can see it looks very likely that it was a genuine typo. I think it highly unlikely that she would spam in this way to their home page… not much benefit to them there IMO.
on Feb 11th, 2009 at 9:27 am
@Roland Rat
You still going out with Glenis? You’ve not graced our screens for a while love… I miss you
@Paul
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I think that we’re just going to have to agree to differ here.
In terms of benefit - I agree a followed link from a lowly little blog like mine will not cause the search rankings of Compare the Market to sky rocket; however lots of natural looking links from sites and blogs like mine may well have a positive benefit.
To be clear - I am not suggesting that this is what VCCP are doing. Just that if they were to engage in this sort of activity the rankings of Compare the Market may benefit.
on Mar 3rd, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Interessante Informationen.
on Mar 7th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I have to smile every time I see the advert. Just brilliantly simples! If meerkat soft toys are on sale I want one.
on Mar 7th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
Hey Penny,
I’m totally with you, and think if they sold toys, they’d go really well.
While we’re at it, I really want one of those dog bots from the Fiesta adverts, I like that the dog bot is stupid… and also that it won’t need walking / taking care of / feeding etc unlike a real dog.
on Mar 13th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
great advert makes my day when its on
on Mar 25th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I’m impressed by how well they’ve done this campaign, they are engaging with the audience (via Twitter rather than just sticking up a youtube video and hoping for the best. The bloopers video is a nice touch http://tinyurl.com/crqklc
on Mar 25th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
Hi Thomas,
Thanks for stopping by
Totally agree - the bloopers video is a nice touch - all in all I think they’ve done really well with the campaign.
on Aug 6th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Hannah, why are you making such a big deal out of it, I think your just trying to stir things up, so what I they are pluggin their new campaign on your website, its a totally relevant link so whats the problem!
Get over yourself! If it was an unknown company you would have deleted the comment and never mentioned it, u wont get famous by opening a dialogue with the marketing department of Comaprre the Market lol.
on Aug 7th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Hi Andy,
You’re a little late to the party aren’t you?
Thanks for your concern, but I am indeed over it.
It all happened back in March, and now we’re in August.
I’ve said elsewhere on the blog, that whilst initially I was sceptical about the typo arguement, I’ve seen no evidence of them replicating this anywhere else, so I accept it as a genuine mistake.