I Hate Them But Still Use Them: Credit Cards.

Here is a case that my friend Patrick Byers would have probably loved to cover in The Responsible Marketing Blog. It's so irresponsible.

The Case
Keep in mind this is just one of thousands of cases of credit card companies exploiting students on university and college campuses. More importantly this is a case of a credit card company hiding behind a marketing firm to do the dirty work.

Lawyers from The Ohio State University Moritz College filed a suite in September 2007 against Campus Dimensions Inc. for:

• Failing to clearly state the conditions of an offer.
• Using bait advertising.
• Using "free" without clearly setting forth all terms and obligations of the offer.
• Notifying prospective consumers about a prize or something of value without disclosing any and all conditions necessary to get it.

The reason for such a complaint is that the marketing agency representing a credit card company posted fliers saying "Free Sandwich and Drink" with no further indication that students would have to register for a credit card in order to get what was promised.

This story came to light because 3rd years students and a law professor investigated the company's actions on campus for a full year. Thank you!

My Case
I obtained one of my credit cards the same way: at a campus event where they were giving away a free "Queen's Unviersity" tee-shirt to everyone registering for a credit card which had a beautiful picture of my university on it. Who wouldn't want one?!
In this case, I was a first year student, and they blatantly exploited my feeling of patriotism and belonging towards my university.


My Big Question
Even though I consider myself very aware of misleading marketing tactics, I fell for it. How the hell can a 20-something student sitting behind a plastic folding-table bait me to sign-up for a credit card?
When last year I spent a year in Belgium I couldn't get one since they needed a year's worth of spending history. And I could only get one in a bank. That makes more sense doesn't it?

Those lax financial laws in North America are killing a society... and it started last year with the financial credit crisis.

via

Award Winning Guerrilla Marketing -- Toilet Plungers as Ad Medium

Toilet Plungers?
At the Marketing Magazine 2008 Innovation Awards, Colour Creative Persuasion Inc. received the gold prize in the "targeted marketing: young adults" category for the work they did for student-geared Landlord Lou.

The Campaign
It consisted of placing 3,000 toilet plungers around Halifax, Fredericton, Moncton and Saint John in New Brunswick which all had the website's URL. To leverage the effectiveness and buzz of the campaign, Colour Creative put up posters and took up a few ads in urban weeklies encouraging students to find the plungers -- treasure hunt style. The clear purpose of the campaign was to draw students to their website which had a link to their extensive number of apartment listings as well as some viral videos to help brand themselves as the best landlord in town.

Posters


Microwave


Sex Feens

My Thoughts
The campaign got some buzz on Facebook, Kijiji as well as 7000 hits on their website. So clearly, their objective was attained and their brand image very likely increased as well. Moreover, I admire campaigns targeting students that make smart uses of various media to increase the overall efficacy of it.

But seriously, was it worth putting that much effort into it?