Your Wife is Hot
This weekend I passed the billboard seen above. With a little research, I found out that Your Wife is Hot was the most popular among the respondents to the recent NEWS online survey on the effectiveness of billboard advertising.
I was pleasantly shocked; it made me look three times and I wanted to take a photo. That has only happened once before, when I encountered the worst billboard I had ever seen, and I only wanted to take a picture then so I could show people what not to do. At SalesBy5 we are not usually fans of billboards because most lack a call to action or the ability to track performance. However in this situation, with the South Texas heat already breaking 100 degrees a few days this year, their advertising was spot-on.
A few months ago we wrote about brand promise and brand experience, so I called Jon Wayne Heating & Air Conditioning yesterday to talk to them about writing this blog. After a few rings an automated phone system answered and promptly hung up on me. I called back, which I would not normally do, but I was in search of answers. This time their system worked, so I asked if there was anyone available I could talk to about their billboard. Unfortunately no one was available, and I was told to leave a voice mail. Persistent, I then asked if I could get the cell phone number of someone to talk to, and was once again told to leave a voice mail. Finally, I offered to leave my name and number and have the person call me back as soon as possible, but was once again told to leave a voice mail. Dejected, I ended up doing as I was told.
It is rare that we see good advertising, let alone great. We are exposed to so much clutter that letting something through our subconscious gate keeper is huge! I have mentioned this billboard to about 15 people now and also wrote about it on Twitter. As Seth Godin puts it; if something is remarkable, people will remark about it. I say people are going to talk, so give them something to talk about with your ads, pitches, and brand.
No one from Jon Wayne was heard from as of press time which is now 24 hours later!
Photo courtesy of Derrich.com
May 19th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Nan,
I saw this same billboard the other day and thought of telling you guys about it. It’s very effective in getting your attention.
Unfortunately, from personal experience I know Jon Wayne are a bunch of amateurs when it comes to customer service and quality of work. Perhaps they’re growing faster than they want to and don’t have time or qualified personell anymore. I’m not sure what, but this time last year when we had issues with our A/C we couldn’t get them to come out and service the A/C which had their name on it, and they had installed. Cute ads, horrible service.
May 19th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Sounds like their answering system needs to be revamped. They could be loosing out on customers.
Great ad like that could be sending them lots of phone calls, but if the system is dropping calls, or they are too impersonal and telling people “we don’t want to talk to you right now, just leave a voice mail” there would be a fair number of people, potential customers, who just hang up instead.
May 19th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Along the same lines as Vid, I’ve heard mixed reviews on their service, but an impressive billboard nonetheless. Shameless plug for Comfort Design…great service!
May 19th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
That is sad. But it does show that gimmicks do not help you deliver on great customer service. I have seen the billboard and so did the girlfriend we liked it. I immediately called to give them a thumbs up….had to leave a message. I guess it also shows that great advertising has to be balanced to your level and ability to respond to the landslide of business that you might receive. Thanks Erik.
May 21st, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I had the same reaction when I saw a version of this in Columbus, OH (different company, but same headline.) I have to admit, I noticed the billboard. The headline successfully broke through my “billboard blindness” buffer and made an impact. BUT… I’ve driven past it for a week now, and though I find the headline funny, I have NO recall of the A/C company featured as the advertiser.
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
They did not have time to answer your call because they were too busy giving me the runaround and oercharging me for a new A/C unit. Stick with Beyer Boys, that’s for sure!