Wednesday, February 6, 2008

The Charmin Case and a Bad Website

Okay. I’m back and ready to jump right in where we left off.

If anyone is reading along with me, the Charmin case study is another excellent example of Hispanic marketing. In this case, we have an example of marketing to the Hispanic market within the larger context of a broader campaign. In a nutshell, Charmin in conjunction with their Hispanic advertising agency, Bromley Communications

Hold up. We’ll stop with Bromley Communications’ website and take a second to talk about their site. Wow. Perhaps their site will change by the time you read this but if you want an example of what I consider an absolutely terrible site, you have it.

First off, they use the latest version of Flash. I must not have had the latest version of Flash installed for Firefox so I had to download it, close out Firefox, install, open a new browser and go back to their site.

While I’m obviously at fault for not having the latest updates installed for Firefox, Bromely might want to consider other options (for instance - embedding Flash elements which would also help with several other critiques that I won’t post) that would allow them to at least show something to a new visitor. As is, their site sends you to a page that tells you that you have to download and install the latest version of Flash.



What if all I wanted was a telephone number so that I could pick up the phone and call them? Are you telling me that I have to download the latest version of Flash, close out Firefox, install, open a new browser and go back to their site before I can have your phone number? Some agencies just don’t get it. While I love all the crazy, cool stuff that design can do, people by in large are online for information. Don’t serve up something that puts barriers between your visitors and the info they are seeking. Be smarter than that. People are fickle and the back button is a just a click away.

Next, once you actually do make it to the site, what in the world is going on? Where's the navigation? Seriously, where is it?



Hmmm. When you click on the sun in the sky you get hit with a pop up and served an entirely different website on a different domain. Then, when you click anywhere on the building you are brought to a page with the history of Ernesto Bromley and Bromley Communications.



However, where the hell is contact info? Remember, all I wanted is a phone number. Let’s click on the left and right arrows. Still no contact info.

Okay, is the arrow on the previous page telling me to click on what appears to be an 8 ball in the sky? Apparently so. Wow, after all of that, we finally have some navigation and at least a link to a contact page.

If you can’t tell, I’m a fan of functionality. If I can’t navigate your site such that I can easily find info and become an actionable (lead in this case but also a sale, download, reservation, etc.), then I think you have some problems.

Anyhow, if we get back to the Charmin case study, Bromley helped with an effort to introduce Charmin Scents toilet paper to the Hispanic market within the existing “Call of Nature” campaign featuring a bear family.



Bromley’s analysis found that Hispanic women were “scent seekers” – they buy several scented products for the home and are willing to pay more for the “little extras” these items offer. The tagline to the Hispanic market, Mimalos con Charmin (Pamper them with Charmin), tied into this idea that the Hispanic market likes to pamper with the “little extras”. Charmin Scents “enhanced” the bathroom experience by making it feel cleaner and more presentable for family and friends. The result of targeting the Hispanic market independently was that Charmin was able to refine a better message and it worked. The data in the case study shows that the Scents line accounted for 6% of Hispanic brand sales vs. 3% of the general market brand sales. Obviously, Charmin’s message better resonated in the Hispanic market.

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