If I Give You A Free Hamburger, Will You Be My Friend?
I was watching TV last night and saw this commercial for T.G.I. Friday’s announcing their new hamburger giveaway campaign:
In the commercial, Woody, a presumed faux customer and big time fan of the restaurant chain, announces a new Facebook campaign for Friday’s that pitches the viewer to become a Woody fan on Facebook and receive a free burger. Maybe Woody is the real #1 fan of Friday’s, but I’m not buying it, and even if I did, it doesn’t matter.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the whole point of a brand participating in social media to build brand awareness through a real engagement between a real person from a company and their real consumers? To me, this campaign crosses a line between social media and advertising. Advertising is a wide-open venue where a company can create characters to act like a customer. Consumers understand that. Social media is supposed to be real. You can’t buy customer loyalty by having a fake customer giving away free hamburgers.
Creating a character to give away hamburgers and build a following on Facebook is fine I guess, but what’s the point? After the hamburgers are given away, will anyone remain friends with Woody? What is Friday’s trying to do here, create a slacker version of Ronald McDonald? Dress a clown in a pair of jeans and a beanie cap, and he’s still a clown.
Like all companies, Friday’s must have a couple of real life characters wandering the hallways at their corporate headquarters that would perhaps be more effective in leading a social media campaign. Consumers don’t want a hired character to chat with about hamburgers. They’ll take his free hamburgers, but they don’t care about him. It comes off as having something to hide, an avoidance of letting down the guard and opening the door for a real conversation, which sometimes might not be positive. Consumers want to feel like their voice can be heard and that what they say matters to the brands that they are loyal to. Involve your customers, ask for their opinions and suggestions and if giving something away helps as a thank you, then go ahead, give something away. But that can’t be the only benefit. It needs to be an ongoing engagement.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and predict that Woody will indeed get a huge following of “friends” simply to get their free burgers, but the friendship won’t last long. They’ll take the bait; they’ll eat it, and then abandon poor Woody after their bellies are full. If you offer a shallow campaign, then the response will be equally as shallow. Free stuff is great, but it’s not good enough to sustain a lasting relationship. I think Woody will be looking for a new job and new friends in no time.
ConfessionsMom
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 10:15 am
I have to admit, I signed up for my free burger, but I was under no illusions that Woody wasn’t “cooked” up. Witha marketing background and interest, I am VERY interested in watching how this all plays out in social media. Long term fame? Doubtful. Creative and effective? Yep. I bet TGIF’s has a huge serge for a while, but they’ll have to either keep this alive by themselves, or really do something out of the box to personalize Woody so he keeps all these hard won “fans”. I have to admit that it was really fun watching to see if the fans could climb that fast. I checked constantly. I also stayed up to watch Ashton and CNN go head to head on Twitter. Fun stuff.
Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 10:27 am
Hey there ConfessionsMom-
Thanks for stopping by. Nothing wrong with grabbing free stuff when you can! I think you are right though, unless they start up a chapter 2 in the Woody saga pretty quickly, it’ll just die after the food runs out. I’m sure they have their plan for the character, but I’m not sure he’s dynamic enough to carry the load for the long run. Thanks for your input!
kara-noel
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 10:31 am
I agree!! It is totally fake… they could have at least tried to give it a raw look with a webcam or something.
btw
Become my FB fan and you’ll get free… ummm… friendship…
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Elis-Lids/104439742674
Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 10:51 am
Hi Kara-Noel,
Even if Woody is a real dude, he doesn’t come off as one because of the highly scripted dialogue. If he’s real, let him be real, if he’s not then don’t pretend that he is. They either need someone from within the company or get a believable real person, like Subway did with their man Jared.
Thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl
Melissa Wardy
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 11:50 am
Great post. As someone trying to launch a brand about Redefining Girly for Pigtail Pals, I have tried to be authentic and honest in my conversations and contacts through social media. I completely agree that if companies are going to use those mediums to give their customers a voice, then they need to truly do that, and not play charades.
As for this particular marketing campaign, is there a difference between “Fan” and “Friend” on Facebook. I have several Fans on Pigtail Pal’s Facebook page, but have not “friended” them to my personal page. They are a friend of the business and I love when they give input on our page, but I wouldn’t necessarily want them seeing my family pics from Christmas morning….
Anyway, another great read! I always enjoy your posts so much!
Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Hi Melissa,
I stand corrected. The promotion is to become a fan on Woody’s page…
Thanks for stopping by!
Melissa Wardy
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Oh, I wasn’t trying to correct you, just wondering if there exists a heirarchy of Facebook contacts…meaning is a “Fan” more or less meaningful that an actual “Friend”? Can you really be a “Friend” to a company, or just a “Fan”? I think a “Fan” shares a commonality with a group, while a “Friend” suggests being an insider to the group…which seems like a false pretense and like you said, pretty shallow.
Your idea that Social Media is supposed to be real, and the idea of buying customer loyalty is very intriguing to me. Because, if loyalty is bought, it isn’t really loyalty.
Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Hi Melissa – I think you are right about fan vs. friend, but either way, fans and friends can’t be bought. You are absolutely on the mark that loyalty is earned from a meaningful experience rather than free meat! Everyone has their own approach to using social media, but from my perspective, this campaign is not the most effective for the long haul.
Thanks for the interesting chat!
Felicia
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 3:39 pm
I’ve been wondering some of the same things myself.. I guess we shall see!
Cheryl Andonian aka Momblebee
wrote on September 14, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Hi Felicia -
I’ll be keeping an eye on this to see how it plays out!
Thanks for stopping by!
Momblebee Blog » What’s Your Key to Community Building?
wrote on October 3, 2009 at 9:37 am
[...] either by cash, free merchandise or other means of artificial manufacturing. Whether it’s T.G.I. Friday’s recent free burger campaign or brands creating their name as a trending topic on Twitter by offering free merchandise, these [...]