The Pontiflex Blog

It’s good tennis – but we all have time for online lead generation

March 11, 2008

Just yesterday, I went to watch Roger Federer play Pete Sampras at an exhibition match at Madison Square garden. The match was good – no, change that to positively brilliant – but the advertising was lacking.

For one, save for two advertisers, none of the billboards had even a simple URL next to the brand names. While this is excusable for the larger brands such as Netjets and Rolex, the lesser known advertisers could have incorporated a simple URL to get a lot more out of their very expensive signage.

Let me give one example of Mason’s Tennis Store in New York – there are many others. Mason’s Tennis had the opportunity to take advantage of billboard advertising, digital signage and in-MSG TV advertising to make their point, which is if you play in tennis in New York, and don’t shop for gear at Mason’s, you have no right to shout Forty Love with any degree of conviction. Mason’s could have inserted a simple line in their TV message – Log-on to masontennis.com for a special tennis racket promotion. What a world of difference that would have made.

I agree with people who say that when it comes to outdoor advertising, less is more, and that branding is key. However, when appropriate, it’s advisable to innovate and blur the lines between branding, lead generation, et. al. Once in a while, it’s more than all right to break the rules and do things a little differently. Many of the advertisers could have turned to the tennis on display for inspiration.

Entry Filed under: Lead Generation. .