A lot of folks have written about the ridiculousness of CareerBuilder’s firing Cramer-Krasselt over their sub-par ranking in the USA Today Super Bowl poll. I too lament this decision as a sad one for our business especially in light of the outstanding business results the Monkey campaign achieved prior to the Super Bowl. Marketing for Good is a firm believer in the power of laughter to build brands. If you any doubts about this power, please read the following excerpts from the memo C-K’s CEO Peter Krivkovich sent to his staff:
Then we had an insight into how to go from chasing the same job seekers as the monster in the category (Monster.com) to going after the much bigger opportunity of those frustrated in their jobs but needing a push to make a switch. It was a gold mine for CareerBuilder and our 360-degree thinking drove it. We made them famous. In less than 36 months, C-K helped put CareerBuilder and their management on the map.
We helped drive up traffic 43%. We grew their awareness by 64%. We helped drive their shares from the low 20s to 40% while driving Monster’s share from 50% down to 36%. We made them No. 1, even while [it was] being outspent three or four to one by Monster.
We also created two of the biggest and hottest sites in internet history. Monk-e-mail is the most-visited site ever. Age-o-matic, at its launch, is more visited than Monk-e-mail was. Of course, we did the phenomenal “I work with a bunch of monkeys” series and “I work in a jungle” TV series.
In truth, I was not a big fan of the most recent monkey ads because frankly I didn’t think they were funny. I thought they were bleak and painful to watch. I assumed at the time that the client was a partner in the decision to move away from monkey slap stick and figured they’d get back to the original shtick faster than you can say “whoopie cushion.” Wrong again, banana breath! Instead, the agency takes the fall and the client moves on. Certainly left more than a few industry heads scratching. Here’s a few of my favorite comments about CareerBuilders’ decision from around the blogosphere:
CareerBuilder is retarded. (b12partners.net) There has to be more to the story. Who fires their agency because of a low-rank in a poll in the fracking U.S. Today? Especially a poll of only 238 people (located in Houston, Tx and McLean, VA). Come on, that’s ridiculous.
CareerBuilder’s ROI on Super Bowl ads is ludicrous (Ed Moed). Yesterday’s news that Cramer-Krasselt resigned the enormous CareerBuilder account came as no surprise to this blogger…However, sometimes agencies needs to accept more responsibility for a colossal account loss (such as this one) than its senior executives would like. It’s still apparent to me that too often agencies fail to set up measurable goals and benchmarks for a campaign (or program) that is agreed to and signed off on by both the agency team and client.
Career Builder’s Absurdity (MarketingInsideOut) Have the people at Career Builder lost their minds? What the hell kind of Kool Aid are they drinking over there? They can’t possiblity be that stupid can they? In what has to be the most absurd of all reasons ever uttered publically, CareerBuilder put its account up for review today saying that the Cramer-Krasselt Super Bowl ads failed to rank in the top 10 in USA Today’s viewer poll.
The point of my post is not to throw more gasoline on the CareerBuilder pyre (though that wouldn’t be hard) but rather to remind us all of the power of a funny idea to help build brands. Monkeys as bosses is a funny notion. It made me laugh as it did millions of job seekers who suddenly became interested in CareerBuilder as a resource. Laughter helped put that brand on the map. And laughter can make the world a better place. Keep it coming.