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 Some of our more mature readers would remember him from way back in the days when he waved his giant foam hands around yelling Its freebie time!. Now, a few decades later Geoff Winter and the gang at FabAds are responsible for some of the most memorable retail ads in recent years. Lets be clear, were not necessarily saying some of the best retail ads, but no-one can deny they cut through and make an impression of some sort.
His latest campaign for Haggle Co is no exception. In fact, according to Geoff, Its some of the best work weve ever done and you know what? Were inclined to agree. But then, were a little bias cause we love pretty much anything to do with midgets/dwarfs/little people/whatever other politically correct term were supposed to use for bonsai humans.
The campaign though, did stand out and did bring a smile to our face, albeit a politically incorrect little one. And it seems we werent the only ones as even Geoff received a few complimentary calls when it first went to air late last week. People dont ring up and say anything about our ads anymore and if they do its certainly not complimentary. To get that was great. he said.
The strategy it seems, while probably not anywhere to be found in the Marketing 101 text book, is pretty simple. Geoff explains Haggle Boy, one of Haggle Cos owners has played various roles so this was the natural extension of that. He was Austen Powers for a while. He was Elvis. We had a lot of reaction to that. To me its a fantastic strategy. You cant say the brand is the most credible brand in the world. But my view is really simple - its a very, very strong brand, everyone knows about it, everyone has an opinion... 50% of people hate it, the other 50% think its great he explained. And theres no doubt, in a time when were all bombarded with 42 million advertising messages each day, getting noticed is definitely a good start. And hes anything but complimentary about what else gets done out there. I look at all the other furniture ads and they're all so fucking boring and so fucking dreary and so predictable and all we wanted to do was be on the shopping list. We just want people to give us a go and its bloody working.
Its advice some retailers, particularly furniture retailers, might find worth considering. With the impending opening of the new Homemakers Centre at Gepps Cross, Geoff says the power of a decent brand is one of the keys to survival. Were about to see the biggest increase in furniture retailers weve ever seen in SA. I think a lot of these strip shops will definitely go broke - particularly the ones that are unbranded he said. Hes the first to admit his strategy might not be the most sophisticated going around, but in his own words, You cant have everything. But I dont think it matters. And for now at least, it seems his strategy of hard sell with some strong price points is not only a bit of fun, but getting results with the client about to open yet another new store. Were not about to say his approach to marketing is the ducks guts or the bees knees, but if it was a choice between staying in, or going out of business, maybe making an arse of yourself isnt such a bad idea after all.
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