How Dumb Does Dish Network Think We Are?
Posted: 2/2/2010 8:59:21 AM by
Jim Andrews | with 2 comments
As a cable TV subscriber primarily satisfied with my current service, I have viewed the “satellite wars” between DirecTV and Dish Network with cool detachment. But while watching the GRAMMYs broadcast on CBS last night—marking the rare occasion when I watch any non-sports or non-news programming live—I was stopped short by Dish Network’s new ad taking on the competition.
Telling consumers that they are paying an inflated price for a competitor’s product because that company has paid endorsers seems to me to be a dangerous—and downright silly—game.
Begin with the idea that a company is spending money on advertising to criticize the competition’s spending money on advertising. Does Dish Network give us no credit? Do they believe that viewers won’t wonder how much Dish Network is paying for a 30-second spot during a major broadcast event?
Secondly, by taking aim at a relatively small line item in the operation of a major corporation, Dish Network opens itself to a counterattack from DirecTV against larger Dish Network costs and whether they have been passed on to its customers, e.g., Dish Network’s $360 million reserve fund to pay for potential damages resulting from TiVo’s lawsuit for DVR patent infringement.
But more fundamentally, this spot is in many ways the equivalent of negative political advertising. It tells me nothing about why Dish Network is better than DirecTV—just that it’s cheaper.
By offering a preposterous reason why DirecTV costs more, this spot leads consumers in the opposite direction than it intends. A rational person viewing it says, “I know in the grand scheme of things at a multibillion-dollar corporation, the $175 price differential is not going directly to pay for celebrity endorsements, so why does DirecTV cost more?”
Since Dish Network has not offered a serious answer to that query, the rational viewer is left considering options including: DirecTV has better service, higher quality technology and more programming options. Whether those conclusions are true or not, they are where the Dish Network spot leads.
I certainly hope that competitors of major sponsors don’t follow in Dish Network’s footsteps, raising questions about how much of a product’s purchase price is going to pay for a TOP sponsorship or a concert tour presenting role. I’m not opposed to it because I feel it is a threat to corporate sponsorship; I’m offended by it because it’s bad marketing.
Any marketer that insults consumers’ intelligence deserves to have theirs questioned.
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Filed under: endorsements