Meet the brand that turned David Bowie’s death into a tacky marketing message
Imagine you’re the person in charge of writing the marketing messages for a financial advice site.
Topical is good, right?
What’s topical?
David Bowie.
So why not turn the lyrics of one of his songs into a topical marketing message?
No brand would be crass enough to do that, would they?
Step forward Adviser Ratings.
This morning, the brand emailed out the following message, headed “Ground Control to Major Tom”:
“Is your circuitry slowly becoming disconnected? In 2016 it’s time to reconnect with this space oddity that is financial planning…”
The message then links to the brand’s blog and a preview of the year in financial planning, which clumsily concludes:
“These are just a couple of things to keep in mind as we kick start the new year and give it some revs before shifting to first gear. Financial advisers need not fear any unsettling changes in the industry. If you think this is the way things are going, it makes sense to be open and explore what new opportunities such changes may bring, so you don’t become another Major Tom. We will certainly be doing all we can to make sense of, and help compliment the industry as we all move forward through 2016!
“RIP David Bowie.”
Although the post is only a few minutes old at the time of writing, early comments from readers point in the direction that this one is heading:
Dr Mumbo notes that Adviser Ratings lists ex Choice spokesman Christopher Zinn as its communications director and Sunrise presenter David Koch as an adviser. Dr Mumbo notes that Kochie also reportedly owns a stake.
12.30pm update: Adviser Ratings MD David Woods tells Mumbrella in a statement: “As the financial planning industry is constantly under threat from new challenges, we thought what better way to recognise his efforts for the music industry by having participants in the financial planning industry emulate his ability to evolve and change.
“David Bowie was at the forefront of innovation and this is what our organisation is trying to emulate.”
What better way indeed.
12.45 update: Mr Woods emails back again: “Just wanted to add, it is a newsletter that only goes out to financial advisers so the audience is confined to an industry that appreciates how they’re being disrupted.”
January 13 update: Dr Mumbo notes that the “Ground Control” headline has been removed overnight, the spaceman image has been deleted, and the article has now been re-edited to appear to be a tribute to David Bowie, with a new paragraph added at the top saying: “As we mourn the passing of David Bowie, his life is a reminder of the need to evolve to maintain relevancy – a man that kept up with his fans and kept bringing in new fans decade after decade. A true innovator.”
Meanwhile, the brand has taken to Twitter with the classic non-apology apology of “If you were offended..”
I guess in a way, this article is doing the same thing…benefiting from topical SEO….
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Aren’t you doing the same? Creating articles on David Bowie and how it relates to their readers – slightly hypocritical. From what I read they aren’t selling anything!
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@Matt
No that is not the case. Mumbrella is a resource for the media, marketing and advertising sectors. It is reporting on a piece of marketing that is trying to piggyback on the recently departed, megastar, David Bowie.
Professionals in this sector need to understand the line and be reminded about what is good and what is not so good in terms of strategy. That way they learn and an industry news portal like Mumbrella enables this to be achieved.
Mumbrella are not doing the same.
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This is as tacky as all the other brands trying to find relevance with Star Wars. I have witnessed so many poorly aligned social posts and email campaigns that have actually inspired me to unsubscribe, or unlike.
Finding relevancy in a crowded market is essential for any brand, but sloppy thought processes lead to sloppy work.
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Just to clarify the claims in this mornings update – we have not edited the image nor the title of the article. We did add those words you mentioned to help clarify the connection following online feedback.
The email always had this different image and title to the one in the article. The email was sent to a closed distribution list, hence the different image and title. We do not add, edit or delete comments in our blog unless they contain profanities or are defamatory…and we certainly do apologise in this instance for any offence caused. We hope it is obvious by now that offence was not our intention.
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‘We hope it is obvious by now that offence was not our intention.’No Rodney, your intention was the offence.
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