Well it looks to me like they managed to get and hold the #1 trending topic on twitter for a measly $6,000. Kudos to them!
Christine
· 6 months ago
I knew what the prize was when I twittered about it this morning. I had no problems with it either. I already have a 3G iPhone, but I would *love* to have a $199 gift certificate. So if they pick me to win, sweet!
I don't think they are being deceptive at all, and I think it is great that they have set it up this way so that people that already have iPhones - or don't want an iPhone - still have an option to participate!
Jennifer Suarez
· 6 months ago
Anyone who reads the rules already know its a gift card for $199, it's stated very clearly on the website so why should this be surprising news?
Would it generate as much traffic / trend as much if they advertised it as the straight up apple gift card? OF COURSE it would!! It's a FREE $199 bucks!! And even if they gave away the ACTUAL phone, (keeping in pace with the main claim) it wouldn't change the fact that you still have to activate it. People aren't stupid. No one expects a FREE phone to come WITH activation.
Personally, I find the offer MORE attractive as a gift card. It doesn't box people into HAVING to spend extra $ if they don't want to. They can use the money for ANYTHING they want from apple.
Jose Alvear
· 6 months ago
Because people don't read the fine print or go to the company's web site. They just hear about it from their friends who are using the hashtag and just follow what they're doing. What percentage of people do you believe actually go to the company's web site?
Simply by using the words "iPhone" and "free" everyone gets into a tizzy. It's amazing. I've seen more spams, splogs and promotions for free iPhones that for anything else in the last few years. You would think iPhones are made of pure gold.
Since it obviously works, marketers will continue to use free iPhone giveaways.
Jennifer Suarez
· 6 months ago
It isn't any more misleading that the title of this post. If you read this RT you think they aren't actually giving anything away, or something less than the $199 or that there is a catch to the rules we all (should have) read. The rules are clear and there is no ACTUAL fine print.
my 2 cents
Adam Ostrow
· 6 months ago
Exactly ... the "free iPhone/iPod" trick has been a staple of internet marketing for the last 5 years. They are getting a lot more buzz by positioning it as iPhone as opposed to gift card. It's deceptive, albeit not a scam by any means.
lalunablanca
· 6 months ago
Squarespace's cleverness is disheartening. The conversation is increasingly manipulated. Social seems to be trending from a world of Expeditionaries of discovery and sharing ... to greedy Conquistadors shamelessly out to conquer all possible in the New World.
malbiniak
· 6 months ago
i'm in the unqualified customer bucket. $200 from #squarespace gets me that much closer, so no complaints here. then again, i read the fine print before i got excited, so this isn't news to me.
Stephen Mckendree
· 6 months ago
I second Christine's comment. I knew what this was. I think most people know better, but I can see where its misleading.
This is interesting advertising & I wonder if it could run as a trending topic for a whole month. I like squarespace
suki
· 6 months ago
While it is at first misleading, I think most people don't have a problem with winning a $200 gift certificate for Apple. Questions are addressed in their FAQ. It's a great way to market and get their name out on the trending topics.
They don't even require that you follow their Twitter account, which many contests out there require. If I won, I probably wouldn't buy a new iPhone anyhow.
Kory Kredit
· 6 months ago
I don't have a problem with the way the promotion is positioned. They did a great job of latching onto a hot topic (iPhone 3GS) and leveraging it to drive awareness for their brand. A phone giveaway could also be seen as bill for a 2 year AT&T contract so the winner may like the flexibility to spend the $200 gift card on something other than the phone.
Drew Olanoff
· 6 months ago
It's deceptive. Period. Their official tweet says "You did just win an iPhone". They clearly did not.
john patton
· 6 months ago
Right! Just like when the cell phone companies say "free phone" and we bust them on that...oh wait, no we don't. When you see a commercial for the cellular carrier you current have 2 months into your contract and the commercial advertises a free phone, do you have the same outrage? No, of course not, because you assume that since you just got your phone 2 months ago, you don't qualify for this new promo. Give me a break. This is the same thing.
It should be noted that people COULD use the $199 to start a new contract and therefore satisfy the claims of the promo as well. The internet is full of misguided efforts to correct perceived injustices and this seems to be another.
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· 4 months ago
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MorpheoZ
· 6 months ago
I honestly don't see what's the big deal... This is the way it works all the time. Take a look at any iPhone contest from any company (when they're giving away more than 1 iPhone that is) and you'll notice that in most of the cases the winners will receive a gift certificate.
Is not only a matter of the financial investment but also the all the legal protocols to follow when you do this kind of contests/sweepstakes.
I don't even think they're misleading the participants either... You're supposed to read the rules and the fine print of any contract, contest or sweepstakes that you sign or participate in... right? So I would argue that every user twittering the #squarespace hashtag is supposed to know that they won't be receiving an iPhone but a gift certificate.
I say... props to them for cleverly utilizing twitter to get a bunch of free press and traffic (probably a decent amount of sales too.)
I rather see this kind of promotions in twitter than some of the spammy strategies other companies seem to be using.
David
· 6 months ago
Perhaps the appropriate legal watch dog could enlighten us upon the rules of advertising claims and lotteries ...
I suspect that it is border line and seems to smell of tactics used by Clearing House and others who have had legal issues ...
Brandon Pierce
· 6 months ago
It is misleading. Either give iPhones away or call them gift certificates - they are not the same thing. The #squarespace marketing campaign is giving out glorified coupons. They appear not to have been able to afford the 30 iPhones give-away campaign. Their tweets are disingenuous.
Jennifer Suarez
· 6 months ago
This part confuses me: "They appear not to have been able to afford the 30 iPhones give-away campaign"
How do you figure that logic? Let's say, instead of giving away $199 "cash" they used that $199 to buy the actual iPhones. It's the same price/cost/amount of money either way. Right?
Am I missing something?
Sean Singleton
· 6 months ago
"Let's say, instead of giving away $199 "cash" they used that $199 to buy the actual iPhones. It's the same price/cost/amount of money either way. Right?"
They couldn't actually get unactivated phones for $199... They did touch on this in the article, the same amount of unactivated phones would cost nearly $15k
i World Cup
· 6 months ago
It's clever marketing but very deceptive #squarespace. Anyhow, there's lots of new iPhone users out there who would like a piece of this.
Joshua
· 6 months ago
I'd much rather have the $199 gift certificate, and apply it towards a new MBP! I read the rules (because that's just the responsible thing to do) and I was actually more excited about it after learning that.
Furthermore, it's not any less deceptive than the lottery saying "Win $1 Million!" when they don't mention that you will lose a large chunk of it in taxes. I say go SquareSpace, their product and marketing are both great.
Then you'll need to win a Gift Certificate, shell out about $200 bucks, and sign up with AT&T for a two year commitment... Sorry, didn't they mention that?
Champ Superstar
· 6 months ago
I'd actually be MORE excited to know I was getting a $199 Apple Gift Certificate. As it stands, I would take a free iPhone and get it unlocked anyway. ZING!
Elliot Swan
· 6 months ago
It's no more deceptive than Apple claiming the price of an iPhone is $199. It's not so much a #squarespace issue as it is an Apple/AT&T issue--Squarespace is simply repeating the Apple advertisements.
Beth Logan
· 6 months ago
I totally agree with Elliot Swan's comment! If it's not deceptive for Apple to say: new 3GS iPhone for $199 (which they already say on their website), how is it false advertising for Squarespace to say that? Honestly, I would have much preferred an in depth post/discussion on the specifics of Squarespace's marketing campaign and the results so far, as this is obviously a pretty brilliant one.
I don't see what the big deal is... even the "give an iPhone" link on Apple's OWN website just links to a $200 or $300 gift card and then you "simply take this card to any Apple Retail Store and redeem it toward the cost of a new iPhone 3G."
Duh. What are they gonna do, sign everyone up on an AT&T account under their name?
Adam Ostrow
· 6 months ago
It's explicitly marketed as a gift card on the Apple site. Squarespace is marketing it as if they're giving the physical phone to people. It's not the same. At all.
The Wandering Foodie
· 6 months ago
Where is the page long post on the free nintendo wii voice banner popunder that is much more annoying than trending topics that you claim shouldn't be trending and gives you less?
speener
· 6 months ago
You could buy a second iPhone for the $199. The issue is this crazy idea that people need to upgrade their iPhone every year. WTF? Why should they account for the people out there willing to waste their money on a new iPhone 3GS when their 3G works fine?
One more thing - when Apple says the iPhone is $199 - how misleading is that?
Stop the madness.
Scott Sharpe
· 6 months ago
I don't see anything wrong with it. You'd think most people would either read the FAQ or seek out additional information regarding the contest.
It's great marketing, and I don't see anything deceptive about it.
Gropus
· 6 months ago
Sour grapes! its a great promotion. This is the best you can do, riding their coattails. Pathetic
jadebabe09
· 6 months ago
so do you get a free iphone or not im confused
annoyed
· 6 months ago
Do your research the new ones are going for 199 and the old are going for 99 .. ugh to ignorance
Boring. What a waste of time this article was. Is it your job to go around picking holes in the most conviniently placed marketing schemes you can find? Would you honestly ask a small company to part with $15,000 rather than JUST $6,000. I wish I was in a job like yours where $6K looked paltry.
All marketing follows this same route. Do you really think a single wipe of a kitchen towel across a dirty work surface results in a tiny flash of lightning and an immaculately clean kitchen? Duh. There are a lot more deceitful marketing campaigns going on, that border on propoganda; I'd personally like to thanks Squarespace for doing the promo in the first place.
Deda
· 5 months ago
Ocu i ja kad je besplatno !!! :P Gde da stanem u red ? Hvala unapred !
arines
· 5 months ago
I want to follow this contest too
Hopefully I'm lucky
Max
· 5 months ago
Great campaign in my eyes. The best part is that you have to follow @squarespace to see if you won.
tim
· 5 months ago
who cares it's a free $199 gift card. why is anyone complaining about free stuff? sell it on ebay if you don't want to use it.
Brandon
· 5 months ago
Since square space is a company that is just starting up (and very fast at doing so by the way) we should give them congratulations for another smart business decision, which is why they are so successful.
Sure the average person would see this as misleading, but as a entrepreneur i judge them as a company, and this is a very smart move on their part, and i congratulate them.
Lisa Cox
· 3 months ago
I think that these types of campaigns are intentionally misleading, because they catch your impulsive attention by offering you something you want, and then slowly they tell you how it isn't exactly what you want. I never even touch these kinds of offers because I'v been burned before for not reading the fine print and I'm so sure it will happen again...But... I LOVE free stuff... plain and simple, so instead of these too good to be true offers, I play the probability game and sign up for contests and sweepstakes. I just downloaded the Billeo toolbar and completed the registration process all in under a minute (http://bit.ly/pi5Lt). It's a password and bill payment manager thingy that I actually started using. All you marketers out there, and you know who you are, try openly and honestly offering something useful (which you imply in your communications) with minimum commitment and watch how people start saying nice things about you (:
All Comments
I don't think they are being deceptive at all, and I think it is great that they have set it up this way so that people that already have iPhones - or don't want an iPhone - still have an option to participate!
Would it generate as much traffic / trend as much if they advertised it as the straight up apple gift card? OF COURSE it would!! It's a FREE $199 bucks!! And even if they gave away the ACTUAL phone, (keeping in pace with the main claim) it wouldn't change the fact that you still have to activate it. People aren't stupid. No one expects a FREE phone to come WITH activation.
Personally, I find the offer MORE attractive as a gift card. It doesn't box people into HAVING to spend extra $ if they don't want to. They can use the money for ANYTHING they want from apple.
Simply by using the words "iPhone" and "free" everyone gets into a tizzy. It's amazing. I've seen more spams, splogs and promotions for free iPhones that for anything else in the last few years. You would think iPhones are made of pure gold.
Since it obviously works, marketers will continue to use free iPhone giveaways.
my 2 cents
This is interesting advertising & I wonder if it could run as a trending topic for a whole month.
I like squarespace
They don't even require that you follow their Twitter account, which many contests out there require. If I won, I probably wouldn't buy a new iPhone anyhow.
When you see a commercial for the cellular carrier you current have 2 months into your contract and the commercial advertises a free phone, do you have the same outrage? No, of course not, because you assume that since you just got your phone 2 months ago, you don't qualify for this new promo. Give me a break. This is the same thing.
It should be noted that people COULD use the $199 to start a new contract and therefore satisfy the claims of the promo as well. The internet is full of misguided efforts to correct perceived injustices and this seems to be another.
Is not only a matter of the financial investment but also the all the legal protocols to follow when you do this kind of contests/sweepstakes.
I don't even think they're misleading the participants either... You're supposed to read the rules and the fine print of any contract, contest or sweepstakes that you sign or participate in... right? So I would argue that every user twittering the #squarespace hashtag is supposed to know that they won't be receiving an iPhone but a gift certificate.
I say... props to them for cleverly utilizing twitter to get a bunch of free press and traffic (probably a decent amount of sales too.)
I rather see this kind of promotions in twitter than some of the spammy strategies other companies seem to be using.
I suspect that it is border line and seems to smell of tactics used by Clearing House and others who have had legal issues ...
"They appear not to have been able to afford the 30 iPhones give-away campaign"
How do you figure that logic? Let's say, instead of giving away $199 "cash" they used that $199 to buy the actual iPhones. It's the same price/cost/amount of money either way. Right?
Am I missing something?
They couldn't actually get unactivated phones for $199... They did touch on this in the article, the same amount of unactivated phones would cost nearly $15k
Furthermore, it's not any less deceptive than the lottery saying "Win $1 Million!" when they don't mention that you will lose a large chunk of it in taxes. I say go SquareSpace, their product and marketing are both great.
http://ec.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/...
Duh. What are they gonna do, sign everyone up on an AT&T account under their name?
One more thing - when Apple says the iPhone is $199 - how misleading is that?
Stop the madness.
It's great marketing, and I don't see anything deceptive about it.
they've been upfront about it, no biggie.
http://www.trackle.com/about/iphone
All marketing follows this same route. Do you really think a single wipe of a kitchen towel across a dirty work surface results in a tiny flash of lightning and an immaculately clean kitchen? Duh. There are a lot more deceitful marketing campaigns going on, that border on propoganda; I'd personally like to thanks Squarespace for doing the promo in the first place.
Gde da stanem u red ?
Hvala unapred !
Hopefully I'm lucky
Sure the average person would see this as misleading, but as a entrepreneur i judge them as a company, and this is a very smart move on their part, and i congratulate them.
i think the link speaks for itself people