As the economy worsened in 2007, companies were starting to try to find ways to encourage consumers to keep shopping. Mastercard came up with a brilliant commercial about a boy and his father going to a baseball game. It highlighted the value of father-son bonding and positioned the credit card as a means of providing the right conditions for the event. Other companies caught on to the trend by showing the emotional benefit that a product can offer and highlighting that it’s free to use. Those commercials continue on to today, in a time when we are considered to be out of the recession.
The Walmart commercial promoting it’s free 2-day shipping program is in the exact same spirit as the father-son bonding mastercard ad. The commercial shows a dog and its owner on the couch, a father throwing his kid in the air, a mother finding a child’s drawing in his jeans and a couple relaxing on the couch. In the background, stars belong to everyone; the best things in life are free highlightes the value of the aforementioned relationships. In sum, the commercial appeals to a wide target demographic. The commercial also stays in line with Walmart’s promise for the cheapest prices. It is clearly comparing itself to Amazon’s Prime membership and states that it’s membership is free. Walmart’s ad is a great way to add value to the brand and its product offering while also competing on price.
PlentyOfFish’s commercial is yet another one that competes with current companies in the field on price. It features two very similar happy couples who met through an online dating site. The idea of the ad is to show that both sites offer the same services but PlentyOfFish offers their services for free. By giving the PlentyOfFish couple names, the ad aims to have the viewer form a bond with that couple. It aims to make them feel like they know the couple and are evern friends with it. While the couples are very similar and difficult to distinguish when having only watched it for the first time, the question in my head was: How can it be free when all other serious companies are not? There must be some catch. Walmart’s free two-day shipping made sense to me because they have a lot of power over suppliers and distributors so they can pass on the costs to them instead of the consumer, especially if the sales increase. But what about PlentyOfFish? What are they gaining from creating a free dating site? Would it decrease the quality and sincerity of the users if adoption barriers are removed? As always, feel free to comment your answers below.