“Life is short – Have an affair” – Good advice or brilliant marketing?
Ashley Madison.com is an online dating service in the highly competitive market of connecting people over the Internet. Any company is looking for a new market for its product and Ashley Madison is no exception to the program. They decided to tap into the virgin territory of extramarital adventure travel as a potential source of customer growth. A kind of acknowledgment that “The Pina Colada Song” about a cheating couple meeting through a dating service is loosely based on real human behavior. And they are not wrong.
Ashley Madison wanted to put the slogan ‘Life is short’. Have an affair’ next to ten streetcars from the Toronto Transit Commission to sell infidelity as a $249 three-month package with a money-back guarantee promising “an adventure of a lifetime” or a full refund.
Talk about a streetcar called Desire.
Needless to say, Ashley Madison stepped up with her ad campaign wrapped around an open invitation to get out of a marriage or relationship and have fun with some extracurricular activity with a money-back guarantee. I guess business has been good since they launched this media campaign.
It was a brilliant move on Ashley Madison’s part. They were rejected by Toronto Transit officials who felt the ads did not fit well with society’s basic value system regarding marriage. Toronto officials felt that the TTC was not in the business of promoting adultery on the side of transit vehicles, while libertarian organizations made arguments about freedom of choice and speech.
Throughout all of this debate, one thing was very true: Ashley Madison.com gained a lot from this one. They didn’t spend a penny on the avalanche of free publicity launched by the storm of media attention with their ploy.
The genius behind the campaign should get a huge bonus for his efforts.
They tapped into the hearts and minds of people on both sides of the fence and are now firmly in the public spotlight. Personally, I had never heard of Ashley Madison and I am not a frequent flyer on dating services of any kind. But now I know where to go if I get married (first) and restless (second) in the future. Ashley will welcome me with open arms at the low starting cost of 249 plus tax, with a money back guarantee.
What could possibly go wrong with such a deal?
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