please God no more Vonage
posted 2005.07.25
I don't know if this is the same all across Canada or just because I live in one of its biggest cities, but I cannot possibly be the only person waiting with bated breath for Vonage to run out of marketing dollars.
Their campaign of incredibly annoying television commercials seems to run every 15 minutes on nearly every channel I watch (and that's no small feat, given how few channels I watch that actually have commercials). I see their online ads everywhere. I'm positive I've seen their stuff around Toronto as well - the subway maybe? I can't remember for sure.
But I can tell you this: while it may be a good idea to try and get in front of as many potential customers as possible, market saturation only does one thing -- Annoy The Hell Out Of People.
Part of it is the campaign itself. It's not funny. It's not trendy. It's not pretty. It's fugly, and annoying, and a little too ALL IN YOUR FACE CAPS SHOUTING kind of thing.
Moral of the story: if you want to entice early adopters (cough, cough -- like, um, me!) don't annoy them with your in-your-face marketing campaigns and then run it just about, well, everywhere. Talk with us, not to us. Entice us, don't shout at us. Tease us a little. It's kind of like a first date. You want to flirt, not stick your tongue down our throats.
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I've been especially annoyed by their use of "Woo hoo" by the 5,6,7,8s - an iconic part of Kill Bill, Vol. 1 - that they somehow turned into the noise of a dribbling moron, heh heh people are stoopid. I was glad to see the film (which I wasn't a huge fan of) on TV recently so I could get that song back in my head the way it first came there - with hip irony (oh, wash over me, please hipness) and not marketing BS. Phew!
Vonage isn't (unfortunately) the only company whose marketing team has glommed onto "Woo Hoo". I've heard it in at least three different company's commercials. Thereby setting my teeth on edge. :) Really, the only place that song *is* ironic and appropriate is Kill Bill, or maybe I'm just biased. I really wish marketing people would try something different, less meme-jump-on-bandwagon and more honest. Well, honestly, it's one of the reasons I love the Virgin ad campaign (and to a lesser degree, the Vex campaign) so much.
So glad to know I'm not the only one being driven crazy by these ads! :)
Actually, I am in Toronto as well (think you are too) so I am not sure whether the rest of the country is getting saturated with this pollutant.
How funny... just the other day I was telling my mother she should think about getting VOIP to save some money on the phone bill. She literally yelled in horror when she realized I was talking about Vonage, with the annoying "Woo Hoo" commercials. I think that they are actually driving AWAY business with their ad campaigns. I am in Michigan and it is everywhere here too.
Yeah, it's all over our TV channels here in the US, too. VERY ANNOYING! We mute the TV or change the channel every time it comes on.
The song 'Woo-Hoo' by the 5.6.7.8's is a travesty. It actually is a really lame rip-off of a great early rock song of the same title released by the Rock-A-Teens in 1959!
You can hear a little sample of the orginal at Amazon
http://www.content.loudeye.com/scripts/hurl.exe?clipid=008309401100006900&cid=600111
Well, Vonage's ads have had an effect on me...
I have sworn to never purchase their services for fear they will use my money to perpetuate those awful ads!
Vongage's marketing is working. Any exposure is good exposure. If you don't like the commercials, change the channel and keep you comments to yourself. Otherwise, you are simply perpetuating the situation by having this mindless chat on your site.
I'd say some retard who can't spell "Vonage" correctly has no business calling anyone else out on anything. Go back to first grade there, chief!
Nope, it's all over Canada as well. Idiotic advertisements with south parkesque animations (cut outs cartoon caricatures)....gah, they're trying to create cool and I'm despising it as well. Funny how ad ccampaigns like that make people hate'em but we're still talking about them.