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Pontiac Takes a Swing at Domain Deafness
January 25, 2006
According to Media Post, some regionally targeted Pontiac television commercials have begun recommending a Google search for Pontiac.
Near the end of a commercial for the G6 Sedan, following the expected laundry list of G6 features, the voiceover says, "Don't take our word for it. Google 'Pontiac' and discover for yourself."
The article does a nice job of explaining the potential motivation behind such an ad, but it didn't address a key question I had: Why use the voiceover to suggest a Google search instead of merely plugging the Pontiac URL? (Note: The pontiac.com URL does appear on the closing screen with some other fine print.)
Suggesting a Google search virtually guarantees that Pontiac won't get every click. True, they'll get most of them, either via the top Google listing owned by Pontiac, or the premium Adwords ads it's purchased. But they can't buy every Adword, and they don't own the full top 10 organic spots.
My theory is that Pontiac believes in something I'll call "domain deafness," which is television's equivalent of the web's "banner blindness." In other words, major brands plugging their URLs in commercials is so common now that our ears naturally filter it out. Pontiac is gambling that even with clicks lost to enthusiast sites and competitors, they'll still get more clicks by suggesting a Google search than they would by merely suggesting "Go to Pontiac.com and discover for yourself."
So "domain deafness" is my theory. But don't take our word for it. Google [domain deafness] and discover for yourself.
You can see the actual commercial here. (Question: In the freeze-frame, does that look like an actual Google screen shot to you? To me it looks like a Google front page with a Photoshop combover. Where are the links to Advanced Search, Preferences, and Language Tools? Where's the copyright notice? Madison Avenue, you superficial tart...)
All posts by Erik Dafforn
posted by Erik Dafforn at January 25, 2006 11:55 PM
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Comments
I like that "domain deafness." Pontiac could have used a direct link from frapple.com to spawn a page that actually might invoke a call to action. M&M'recently launched a site that lets you create an M&M person in your own likeness, it's actually quite entertaining. Pontiac could have provided a link to fully customize a car, colors, options, etc. Make it printable, and provide a code for a dealer to call up and price the creation. Makes sense to me!
Posted by: Michael Bazelewick at January 27, 2007 11:48 AM