T.G.I. Friday’s “Fan” Woody is Hollow
T.G.I. Friday’s is currently running a major campaign, with a large national TV advertising budget, paid search, and interactive money all driving traffic to a Facebook Fan Page. The idea is gimmicky but arguably clever: “Woody”, the ultimate fan of T.G.I. Friday’s, has challenged them to a contest – If he can get 500,000 fans in 1 month, then those 500,000 people will all get free burgers from T.G.I. Fridays.
The campaign has attracted some online media attention, mostly from bargain & freebie blogs but recently in Inside Facebook. More important, the Fan Page is up to 180,000 fans already, and there is lots of conversation about Woody and Friday’s there.
But there’s a problem here. Woody is clearly an actor- the fan videos are produced by a professional crew – and the whole thing smells of inauthenticity in a space where authenticity rules. It’s sad- mostly because social media tools like Facebook, and Twitter, both of which the campaign is using heavily, could easily have been used to recruit real fans, to get get real fan photos and videos, to truly search for the Ultimate Fan, which T.G.I. Friday’s press release defines as Woody. It leads me to wonder whether all of the “fans” are just there for the free burger – and feel no connection to T.G.I.Friday’s or “Woody.” And what does the company think of fan comments such as these from the Fan Page?:
Annie Zeron: I don’t know you, we are not friends, get off my facebook please. Thank you.
Maybe I’m thinking too much from an ethical word-of-mouth agency point of view, and not enough from a consumer’s point of view? What do you think? Does it matter that Woody is not a real fan? Is this campaign hollow or substantial?
Dave,
I totally agree, this is not a well-planned, ethical Word of Mouth Marketing exercise by TGI Friday’s. They are missing the whole point of Social Media, Video Marketing and most importantly, WOMM! If they had taken the time/effort to approach their influential “fans” ahead of time, tasked them with creating not only the “ultimate fan” persona but also allowed them to participate in the video production (check out MeHype’s user-generated video solution for this) and then encouraged sharing they wouldn’t see such a negative backlash as they are experiencing now. #Fail in my book. Thanks
Thanks for your feedback, Tyler!
I’m ok with it. When you see the AD you realize it’s an AD. It’s better than the stuff IZEA promotes.
I thought it was pretty obvious that people were to assume that it wasn’t authentic. It’s kind of surprising that someone would think they’re trying to use this for anything but a marketing tool, but you can’t really complain about free food.
who’s the beefy burger bear in the commercial? woof!
of course he is an actor. He was in a State Farm Insurance commercial about a year or 2 back.
Even if it’s obvious- is it the best use of social media to have a fake fan instead of real fans spearheading the campaign? Just asking…
[...] other aspects of this campaign that have also veered off-course. You can read about them here and here. (Other issues include: the confusion factor, Woody is a made-up character, why not just search [...]
MediaCurves.com conducted a study on 252 viewers of a recent T.G.I. Friday’s ad which promotes its new Facebook campaign. The results found that that the majority believe the promotion will increase favorability for the T.G.I. Friday’s brand. After watching the ad, 71% of Facebook users indicated that they would become a “fan” of Friday’s Facebook spokesman, “Woody” to receive the promotional offer of a free Jack Daniel’s hamburger. More in depth results can be seen at:
http://www.mediacurves.com/Advertising/J7568-TGI/Index.cfm
Thanks,
Ben
Its a free burger, leave it at that LOL, everyones turning this into something it isnt. Fridays knew damn well people would only “Fan” Woody to get the coupon, they only did it to make money, Y? Because if people use the coupon to eat in th restraunt they would probobly buy drinks, appatizers, desserts. So it was just a marketing thing. Advertised to make stupid people think it was something special
[...] have been active.) However, the campaign has been criticized by some marketing blogs as being too artificial. Other restaurants, like Chik-fil-A, have also offered free food, and grown quite large — but [...]
[...] have been active.) However, the campaign has been criticized by some marketing blogs as being too artificial. Other restaurants, like Chik-fil-A, have also offered free food, and grown quite large — but [...]
[...] Last year we saw this when T.G.I. Friday’s ran its “Fan Woody” campaign. Rather than finding real enthusiasts to evangelize for the brand, they created a fake person, Woody, and put him on Facebook with free hamburgers to those who friended him. The campaign was quite successful (who doesn’t want a free burger, after all), but it generated more than its share of angry wall comments and negative press. [...]