Yesterday (8th April) if you searched in Google, for the search term “Argos” you would have been returned the following results:
I have no idea who Ian Edgar is, and I certainly cannot comment on whether the statement being made about him is true or not but someone obviously felt strongly enough to insert this statement in to a sponsored link for all the world to see. Today the message is gone and there is no sponsored link, presumably while Argos carry out a review of how this happened, and no doubt heads will roll. In some ways I hope not.
There is the possibility of course that this is some sort of highly creative, and equally highly risky “viral ad” that will be past off as the work of an errant employee. What genius that would be as I would put money on there being more click through’s on that sponsored ad than ever before and more people talking about the brand. There is the question that if it is not the work of genius, who is going to pay for the click’s? And what if sales increased? Will Argos still be unhappy if actually the revenue went up?
The instantaneous nature of the results on the inter-web is one of the reasons I hope this type of thing continues. Beside the obvious humour factor there is a genuine learning opportunity as we establish the impact on sales, user behaviour and brand affinity. Ibet this opportunity is lost this time.
Well spotted to grab that screengrab! While that ad might increase clickthroughs, it probably won’t increase sales because the people clicking through will be looking for more ‘twattery’, rather than looking to buy a toaster online. It does show how brand hijacking can be used to spread a message quickly, although it would be highly inethical for a company to engage in activities like this.