LiveIt.ie - one of the poorer campaigns I've seen. Probably.

I'm not really into soccer, but I was at the Luas stop and was bored. So I saw this ad for a FREE UEFA 2008 Supporters pack. I never say no to free stuff.

I had to either visit the website or text (standard rate) to 51444.

Not having my laptop with me, I opted for text. The reply was

To claim your free
CARLSBERG football
we need your email.
Please reply with
the word EMAIL and
your email address.
To STOP reply STOP.
Dont FWD to <18.>

Grandio so, off went my reply to receive this text:

Thanks. We've sent an
email to that address.
Please fill out the
forms and we'll send
you your CARLSBERG
football. To STOP
reply STOP. Dont FWD
to <18.>

And then... the subsequent email read...



That's right... visit the website to register. So tell me, what was the point of the text message in the first place?

The email wasn't personalised, it didn't say thanks for texting - in fact it had no recognition of who I was. They could have as easily

(a) not had the text option in the first place, or
(b) written "Text Email followed by your email address to 51444"

But I suppose people may have not got that. Complete waste of two texts, after which they now have my number and my email address. "Nice".

To add insult to injury, after the registration process on their site which gets all your details (if you're honest) and your friends (if you want them to) and then sends you an email saying:



"... Your details are currently being processed. Should you qualify you will receive your kit..."

Should I qualify? Would it not have been easier to have a counter so you could say "We're sold out, they're all gone, sorry" or something similar?

Honestly, who thinks these things through? Did they charge a large amount of cash for it? Probably.

I know it's churlish of me to complain about free stuff but for the amount of data I've given you'd expect something better than "ah sure we might send you it".

I'm still waiting to see a clever advertising campaign integrating web, text and phone. Bluetooth would be an added bonus. I'm keeping an eye on Paul Dervan's great blog on marketing to see what's out there.

I'm also really liking Ads of the World which I found over on the Prosperity blog.