Who’s Paying Attention to Marketing Basics When Buying Halloween AdWords Ads?
If you do a simple search of Google for the word Halloween, you’ll notice that plenty of companies are throwing down big bucks for positioning. How much, you ask? According to the tools in AdWords, the one word “Halloween” will cost you $0.33 to $0.50/click. Your clicks will run from 1,388 to 1,743 per day, so that’s going to run $470-880 during the Halloween season run-up. For a month of ads in positions 1-3, you might spend $14,000 to $27,000 on ads.
So position #1 in my sample search goes to Universal Studios (see image above.. this is not an actual AdWords ad for this page – fake out! It was real when I originally searched, though). They’re advertising their Halloween Horror Nights event at Universal Studios in Los Angeles (or El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula – which is the original name of the city… which interestingly can be abbreviated to 3.63% of its size: L.A… but I digress).
The audience is probably teenagers, college kids, wild adults and brave youngsters dragged in by their older siblings, no doubt.
The ad leads with an economic benefit and a promise of being the “most terrifying” event in the area.
That’s kinda good. I would expect it to be scary, but there are probably some better benefits/dreams/visions lurking just below the surface that could have been used in the ad. As I recall, Halloween, theme parks and thrill rides were all about cuddling up to the girls (at a certain age). I’m guessing that this demo fits that profile. If they could insert a teen dream twist in there, it would be even more provoking or compelling. Something like “Defend your sweetie from the most ghoulish thugs in Southern Calif”… or even something Freudian, like “a night that will make you want to run home to Mama.”
The savings pitch could come after that. Here’s the landing page that the Universal Halloween horror nights link ends up at. Let me know what you think of the effort there by posting comments below. I like the testimonial at the end, but I’m not sure the main body text is so motivating.
Position #2 goes to BuyCostumes.com. I like the fast shipping benefit. We all know how last minute costume shopping goes. Selection benefit is good, too. Simple but strong.
OrientalTrading.com is in position #3. Selection and discount are the benefits they’re touting. I’m betting that their ad changed to “fast shipping” as the 31st approaches. A better approach might describe the end-result benefit and combine that with the economical/discount factor. Something like, “Delight the little ones with discount Halloween treats. Rapid, one-click check-out.” They could also put in a low price guarantee. That’s always reassuring. The last sentence I suggested is something I like to see, because we all know how tedious and slow shopping cart processes are. It would be a good differentiator when competing for Web business with the likes of Target.com and SamsClub.com.
Target’s in spot #4. It’s weak, but a lot of their branding comes pre-loaded, anyway. What I mean by that is that their benefits are well known by most. You can drive there and find supplies and costumes in stock. They have great prices. You know what you’re getting… etc. You’d think they might have some fun with their ad, though.
The next two – for fairplex.com and SamsClub.com – don’t really bring anything new to the party.
What do you think? Are these companies using AdWords to their fullest potential? Should their ad agencies be fired for “phoning in” the copywriting? Your comments are welcome below.
