The meerkat problem (it’s simples!)
Lesson #1: Choose a name for your company that is memorable, especially if your competitors offer the exact same services you do. Using perfunctory names and Google AdWords to position your product will work for a while, but eventually a competitor will make an emotional connection with the public and you’ll be fighting an uphill battle. If there is nothing special about your name, then how can you expect people to remember it? It’s that simple.
As an example: imagine you are Moneysupermarket.com, the #1 price-comparing Website for car insurance in England. All your competitors have similar names to you and provide the same services, but you have the edge on them because you purchase all the important cost-per-click Google AdWords like “car insurance” and “comparative rates.” Since customers only know you and your competitors by the type of business you do and not by who you are, there is no way for the competition to catch up as long as you always outspend them for the top position. Everything is going great. Then one day a low ranking competitor makes a very funny commercial that captures everyone’s attention. They use social media like FaceBook and Twitter to involve the customer directly. Suddenly, everyone is talking about them. They are winning over the public on an emotional level. Customers are no longer using Google AdWords to find your business. They are going directly to this competitor whose name they know and like. So what do you do? Stop airing your current commercials? Quickly find a new ad agency? Aggressively copy what this competitor is doing? If your company is Moneysupermarket.com, Confused.com, and Gocompare.com, the answer is yes, yes, and yes.
And who is this culprit who is taking your market share so dramatically? Why it’s Aleksandr Orlov, the debonair, Russian meerkat, of course!
Who?! Well, if you live in England right now, you know. Aleksander Orlov is the spokesanimal for Comparethemeerkat.com, the price-comparing Website for meerkats, often mistaken for the Comparethemarket.com Website, which is a price-comparing Website for car insurance. This confusion has Aleksandr very upset and he has financed a media blitz to correct the mix-up. You can see him on his own Website, television commercials and radio spots, ringtones, FaceBook, Twitter and Flickr. This, of course, is part of the marketing campaign to promote the Comparethemarket.com Website and it has been a huge success. In the eight months since it began, the website has had over 3.6 million hits, which is an increase of 200% year on year. Insurance quotes have increased by 80% and cost of acquisition has been reduced by 73%. Brand awareness has gone from 20% to 59%. Aleksandr currently has 543,115 friends on FaceBook and is followed on Twitter by 24,000 Tweeters. No wonder the competition is nervous.
So how did this marketing phenomenon happen? To begin with, Comparethemarket.com addressed one of its biggest liabilities: its name. After realizing his own mother could not remember what his company was called, Mark Vile, marketing director at Comparethemarket.com, approached the ad agency VCCP to turn things around. With such a generic name to work with, the only option was to make fun of it. After hearing someone say “compare the market” in a Russian accent, the rest of the “compare the meerkat” concept quickly fell into place and Aleksandr Orlov was born. The car insurance price comparison business in England hasn’t been the same since.
To make matters worse, Gocompare.com has just aired a commercial with a wacky opera singer called Gio Compario who sings “Go Compare” (to the tune Over There) ad naseum. The ad is already being criticized for copycatting, which brings us to…
Lesson #2: If you are going to make a funny commercial to win back business from your competition, make sure it’s funny.
