High Risk, High Reward?

Today’s Marketing Cookie is a counter-intuitive perspective on balancing ambition with strategic planning.

I learned long ago that in marketing, it’s always better to start with the low-hanging fruit. Go get those easy wins that can quickly generate leads and build momentum. Once we have steady progress and a track record of successes, we can start going after the bigger, more ambitious goals. Using a baseball metaphor, I always tell my team to play “small ball” by hitting a lot of singles and doubles rather than swinging for the fences in hopes of hitting home runs and grand slams.

But today’s fortune flips this logic on its head. Oh, it’s risky. It can lead to significant setbacks if things don't go as planned. It can also take a while, creating an impatient sales team and potentially disheartening your own team if success isn't immediate. Gambling on a big payoff that might not come through is a bold move. Even with careful planning and all the right resources, it can backfire, leaving your marketing efforts stalled and your team scrambling to recover.

In the late nineties, investors were throwing bags of money at just about any dot-com idea that came along. One of these big ideas began with the purchase of the domain name Computer.com for $500,000. The company quickly raised another $5.8 million in venture capital funding and made the bold choice to spend more than half of their money on Super Bowl advertising, including two pre-game ads and one spot during the big game itself.

That year, dot-com start-ups were spending a fortune on advertising to grab market share and quick brand recognition. The Super Bowl was a prime opportunity for these companies to make a big splash, even earning the nickname "Dot-Com Bowl" in 2000 due to the high number of internet companies purchasing ads.

The huge bet they were placing on Super Bowl ads garnered a lot of media attention and discussion for Computer.com. They were the big story leading into Sunday’s event with growing anticipation that they may potentially steal the whole show. The two pre-game ads were pretty funny in a self-deprecating way, featuring the founder’s family members and college roommate, filmed with a low-quality home camera, and presenting the company as a scrappy, underdog startup. The message in the ads presented a commonsense value proposition by simply saying, “Computer.com sells and explains computer stuff.”

The ad during the game, however, attempted to go a little deeper by highlighting a real-world use case for how the website helps troubleshoot common computer problems. The headache they chose to address? Getting online. Despite displaying a phone number at the end of the ad, the next day's watercooler chatter featured a barrage of chicken-and-egg jokes asking, “If you can’t get online, how can you go to Computer.com for help?”

Even if their ad was perfect, within a couple months of the SuperBowl, the dot com bubble burst and startup companies like Computer.com soon became dot gone. Of the 14 internet companies who placed big bets on SuperBowl ads that year, only 3 remained in business. Computer.com serves as a cautionary tale for marketers, illustrating the potential pitfalls of reaching too high, and too big, too soon. 

There's something undeniably admirable about such fearless boldness. It's like watching a tightrope walker cross a chasm without a net or safety cables. While playing it safe may keep us from achieving extraordinary success, I believe it's wise to build a track record of smaller wins first. Let's make sure we can walk before trying to run. 

Should you go for the gusto or play it slow? You’ll have to weigh the risks and rewards for yourself as you consider listening to the approach suggested in today’s fortune, saying, “Reach for the high apples first; you can get the low ones any time.”