The reason I occasionally carry on about the (lack of a) comparison rate in advertising isn’t just because it’s illegal, or because it highlights a bigger picture issue with broad business compliance. The reason the bread-and-butter requirement grinds my gears is because the rate is used to deceive consumers. There’s a word for *knowingly* and deliberately deceiving a consumer: fraud.
For the last few years we’ve made attemps to call out illegal, non-compliant, unethical, or offensive financial advertising. Originating mainly from pay-per-lead services, the plethora of deceptive finspam has left a permanent stain on the industry’s underpants. We were fortunate to be asked to provide advice and guidance to various groups over the last year, and it’s great to see
I tend to waffle on about the lack of a comparison rate in advertising, and It’s not because I think the comparison is overly important, and it’s not simply because it’s against the law. It’s because I see it as a deliberate means to deceive consumers. Failure to abide by such an entry-level and seriously basic obligation – particularly when
About This Stock and Bond Business, by Louis H. Engel. The ad is so good that I’m sharing it 76 years after it was first written. Most copy we see nowadays is forgotten within seconds. There’s so much to learn from this amazing ad and copy. Ogilvy was famous for his story telling, saying over and over that “the more
There are a few big-ticket compliance SNAFUs in this ad (the exclusion of the comparison being the most obvious), but usage of the Coat of Arms in a black and white ad designed to emulate a Government document is the focus of this rant. The use of the mark is regulated under federal law, and its use in any advertising
Shad of the Day, 15th November 2024. More of the same nonsense with *multiple* compliance issues. This gem comes to us from ‘Finance Group AU’ (aka ‘Finance Scanner’ among other fake brokerage brands), and it’s operated by a typical leadgen crowd called Biz Focused. If you’re ever in need of some finance humour you simply need to sit yourself down
Shad of the Day, 7th November 2024. Just another example of somebody using trickery to bait consumers into a phone call (by failing to disclose a comparison). Note the second comment. The subscription experience celebrates the same commitment to compliance and ethical marketing. It’s probably unfair to point this group out since non-compliance is now the rule rather than the
The company managing the advertising for the group pictured on the right have simply copied Macquarie’s logo, creative, and general formatting. There’s generally no rule against leaning on recognition, but it will always come at the expense of your own brand. It’s always a shame to see such a lazy advertising effort (the copy, landing page, and everything that comes
Shad of the Day, 11th October 2024. It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Shad. After the first couple of thousand I started to bore myself with the repetition. However, while we’ve had an impact on dodgy pay-per-lead leadgen, this has shifted many into selling their ‘magic broker flow pipeline accelerator unicorn’ systems, all of which aren’t worth having
The purpose of sharing this screenshot isn’t because the lead cost is low, because it isn’t, but it is within acceptable limits despite the fact the campaign is performing in the bottom 35% of all those we manage. I see businesses buy individual leads for anything between $80 and $200, and brokers will routinely purchase packs of 50 leads for
This is a reasonable example of what the leadgen charlatans don’t want you to see. There’s a $20 budget assigned to a video ad, and after a few days of its initial run it’s already returning $6.20 leads. Given that it’s a first print, the split and improvements will likely drive the cost to around $3 (CPC still isn’t where
I criticise leadgen charlatans all the time. Usually because they’re a business-debilitating service that’ll do nothing but expose you to non-compliance and illegal advertising. Digital leadgen is easy. A ‘generic’ campaign takes minutes to create and outperforms pay-per-lead and industry-unawares leadgen peckers without exception. If you’re engaging in Facebook advertising, consider the pictured 85 leads at $5.69 (still high, and
