Please, please, test your marketing campaigns! Don't flunk like Alliance did.

Today's marketing 'fail' comes courtesy of Alliance Films, who released The Hunger Games on DVD yesterday.  

When I opened the disc I was immediately impressed (I'll get to their failure in a minute).  They obviously thought hard about how to convert fans of the movie into consumers of other products.  They inserted an invitation to read two chapters of the next book in the series and and promo for Jennifer Lawrence's next movie, House at the End of the Street.  They're catching the attention of both fans of the book and fans of the actress.  "Well done", I say to myself. 

Then, anguish.

I enthusiastically scanned the QR code to read the two chapters of the next book, and...  

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"We're sorry, this player is not enabled for HTML5 delivery".

So close!

The marketing team at Alliance worked so hard to capture the excitement of the moment and promote complementary products, and I was ready to praise them for their thoughtfulness and creativity. 

Sadly, they forgot the most important part!

Now it may be that I don't have the appropriate technology on my phone, but I doubt it.  I have an iPhone 4S and had just updated all my software.  It's not an old, obscure device by any stretch.  My worry is that they didn't adequately test the QR delivery on an iPhone!!!  All that effort, wasted.




LESSON FOR MARKETERS:

• The most obvious (and important) lesson is to, obviously, test your digital marketing campaigns on ALL devices and browsers.
  
• The second lesson is to take their lead with respect to their cross-promotional efforts.  What can you offer to consumers that might interest them?  This is along the same lines as the "people that purchased this item also purchased..." tactic that Amazon, iTunes and others use so effectively.  How can you use this tactic in your business?

  

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