Looking to buy a Nintendo Wii? Also in the market for a brand new rubber duck? Look no further! Gamestop is running a special offer just for you!
Maybe a rubber duck isn’t your thing. Maybe what would really push you over the edge to spend your hard earned money would be a small water-gun. No sense shelling out $250 for a video game system if you aren’t able to squirt someone afterward. Gamestop has you covered.
What if you’re a hard-edged pirate who has no use for squirt guns or ducks? What if you need a pirate tattoo but nothing too permanent? Well then Gamestop has just the…. Oh come on now. Really?
Sure enough people like to get free stuff. It can sway a consumer from one retailer to another. That free stuff, however, isn’t usually a completely unrelated item that someone found in their basement. What is Gamestop thinking with these promotions? Whoever came up with these ideas should be fired.
I wonder what kind of research the marketing guys did before they gave these promotions the thumbs up. Maybe there is some sort of study out there that says people are 300% more likely to buy a video game console if it comes with a rubber duck.
Or maybe not.
The Nintendo Wii is already an extremely well selling item. I am at a complete loss as to how a $0.50 squirt gun or rubber duck are going to help it sell any better.
File this in the ‘What Not To Do” section of your marketing guidebook.
-Wes