Thursday, October 20, 2011

Have you played a game with ALDO yet?

10/20/11

Last month ALDO shoes launched a trio of online games in conjunction with its fall campaign, themed “Get Lucky.”  While anyone can enter the daily drawing to win free ALDO shoes for life, those who win all three games will receive a 15% off coupon. (Corr, 2011)

Have you already heard about the promotion?  Did you play the game?  Will you?  The promotion run through the end of December so there’s still plenty of time to play.

Corr, A. (2011, September 19)  Get Your Game On: ALDO Shoes Sponsors Contest With ‘A Lot of Sole’  mediapost.com.  Retrieved October 19, 2011, from


16 comments:

Josh Krubner said...

I had never even heard of Aldo's shoes prior to this post. I visited the site and it seems like an interesting idea. I wonder how well they are marketing this though. Where do people get the invitations/announcements that these games even exist? Is it random banner ads or do they email directly to existing customers? Personally, I am weary about any kind of online game that results in a gift certificate or coupon. You usually are required to provide your email, make a purchase, and sign up for other offers to redeem the cert.

Staren Soanes said...

I like Aldo's, and shop there from time to time, but i've never heard about the promotion until this post. I visited the site and actually played the game. The game was kind of cool, but just like any other "vegas" style of game the chances of winning seem very low. Also, I don't like the idea that their "lifetime" really means 2 pairs of shoe a year for 25 years, because really that isn't lifetime. Overall, the game is interesting but it could have been advertised a lot better.

Sam Berman said...

I kind of recognized the name Aldo but I have never been inside a store or bought any of their shoes. I also hadn't heard about this promotion but I doubt it ran on any of the sites I regularly visit on the internet. At first I thought that the company made a good effort to draw in young customers "vegas” style gaming lowered my expectations for winning anything. I felt that this theme for games extenuated the idea that these games are nothing more than a cheap gimmick. Honestly, computer games have gotten so much better in the last few years and this advertisement just felt cheap and not well thought out. I think that if they wanted to promote to online gamers they should have gone with a game that promotes style and fashion or maybe used games like sorority life (on facebook) to show off their merchandise.

Eugenia Diez Targise said...

I shop at Aldo very often and it surprised me that being a regular customer I was not aware of this promotion which makes me believe that it was not well advertised.
After this post I entered the webpage and played. I found the game funny but it happened me twice that when I choose a shoe the page went blank. It is kind of discouraging.
Moreover, adding to what Staren said not only is for limited to 25 years which doesn’t mean life but also has a total amount of $5000. So it is supposed to mean “Aldo shoes for life” but instead it is plenty of restrictions. I guess they are trying to catch you with the 15% discount.

Alex Bey said...

I think this is a fun and interesting way to grab the attention of ALDO'S target consumer. Considering their shoes are trendy, yet still reasonably priced, I believe their consumer would be interested in the possibility of 'free shoes for life' or at least 15% off of their next purchase. The games were pretty thoughtless, and I personally found the videos that accompanied the games to be more interesting then the games themselves. I think ALDO could benefit from marketing this campaign through another form of media outlet. Keeping in mind their younger trendier target, I feel like ALDO could utilize social networking sites to get the word out about this campaign. I don't personally like ALDO shoes due to the low quality of the materials used and 15% off isn't enough for me to change my mind. Nevertheless, I told a few of my friends about this promotion this weekend and two of them already used the coupon to buy shoes they had wanted. So clearly the 15% is enticing enough for some people.

Maria Garat said...

Like Staren Soanes, I’ve never heard about the promotion until this post.
It is an original idea to force costumers stay longer on Aldo’s website and gain costumers captivity with the 15 % discount. However I think that not many people are awarded on this initiative, probably because not many people search too much in the company’s website. Aldo should include this initiative in the main page of its website.

ARIELA GRINBERG said...

I shop at Aldo all the time, we aslo have Aldo's shoes in Mexico City. I was disappointed on their slogan saying "shoes for life" because Aldo its not known by their quality its known by their designs and good prices more like a trendy shoe not a shoe that you would keep for more than 4 years. How ever I think that its a good idea creating a game where all the collection is shown its a great way to advertise I do think that the game its not that appealing or very well done, and also I think that they can offer more stuff that only 15%, if people take the trouble to play the 3 games which in my case took forever you can at least get a consolation price.

Renata Ribeiro said...

Although I am Brazilian I had heard and I had entered in Aldo’s, maybe because I am a tourist interested in shopping but I had never bought any shoes.

I knew about the promotion, as everyone else, on this post. My only concern regarding this promotion was as none of us – consumers and non consumers – didn’t know about it, it wasn’t well advertised.

I liked the idea. I played the game but I wasn’t very lucky. I think it is a good way to promote the brand associating it with the game and with a reward. The consumer gets in touch with the brand and if he wins he will go to the store and have a second contact with the brand and maybe turned into a consumer.

Mohit Jain said...

Honestly, I have never heard of this promotion even though there is an Aldo store near my place. I visited the site and did try out the games, and I have a doubt on whether anybody would ever win all the 3 games? Initially I visited the main site to check the game and it wasn't there, I agree with Maria that they should really include the game on the main site as well. That would attract alot more consumers, rather than making another website for the game.

yuxa said...

I am a regular customer at ALDO and I never heard about this promotion before, and as I read in other comments here, a lot of people haven't either so I guess their advertising is not really that strong.
I don't really enjoy playing roulette and slot machines, I don't even know how to do it but I guess it sounds like a good idea to complement their "Get lucky" campaign, I mean it is congruent with the rest of the campaign but they're not making a good job promoting this site.
Although I think their website should be promoted differently, like maybe when you buy something they give you something to make you aware about it? I think it was not executed or marketed the right way, they could even give you a "credit" or something for buying at their store so then you would want to visit the website and win the other games because you've already won one. I don't know some kind of incentive? Sometimes it works! As you said the other day professor, people like "getting something" all the time...

Ji said...

I also have never heard of this promotion. Now I get the idea why ALDO is having strange display with 3 mannequins wearing spade masks in their show windows.
At first, it is hard to fine the website in ALDO's main page at least for me. I think promotion websites should be found easily. The more people access to it, the more effective the promotion is.
And I tried, however it was not entertaining at all. I had to wait a lot of time for loading and also it was not great for me to wait watching ALDO's flashes. Therefore, I didn't want to try it again. I think they should make it more customer friendly. Make it easy to try and prepare something more interesting videos. Then it could be a good promotion, I think.

Anushey Riaz said...

I was at ALDO 2weeks ago with a friend and I had no clue about this promotion till now. It is an interesting marketing technique to attract ALDO consumers. Eventually consumers who buy ALDO shoes will try the game once in a while and even if they don't win there are high chances they will browse through the new collection and like something and buy it without winning any of the games. So its wise marketing in terms of getting the product out there. However, personally I wouldn't take part in this promotion because I am not a fan of ALDO shoes. But I do see my 18year old sister being very excited about this promotion. She shops from there and would try anything to get discounts. Plus the games are fun so it might appeal to a younger target market, who have the time, energy and excitement to enjoy this promotion.

Anonymous said...

I had not heard of this Aldo promotion. It is on the website so if you click on shoes for life you can play the games. I think it was a fun idea - who doesn't like to win something for nothing. This idea was not executed well and I deem it a failure. Maybe clicking on certain shoes could be used as customer favorites but they could get these details from sales.
Susan D.

Anonymous said...

I never heard about Aldo's promotion. In the past, i'd frequently shopped at Aldo's. Due to the decline of shoe quality, so not interested. I wouldn't waste anytime playing the game. It's not worth it. Although, good gimmick to attract, new on line shoppers, and keep the faithful.

Leah

John C. Fernandez said...

While I hadn't heard of this promotion, I'm more likely to chalk that up to my lack of knowledge and interest in shoes instead of bad marketing/publicity on their part. (I'm not going to be caught dead playing a shoe game, but that's just me, and again, I'm not the target.)

I actually think these "games", while often rather silly, allow the brand an opportunity to tell a story and make a real connection with the consumer instead of the very emotionless nature of discount coupon codes and Groupon locusts.

And heck, given the price of shoes these days, 15% is very meaningful, even if almost all folks won't win shoes for life. This is a pretty good way to really encourage sales and build customers, though the promotion probably needs to be more aggressive and pervasive, given that it seems that everyone on this blog has yet to hear of it.

Cassie Mull said...

Personally, I would never play an online (advertising) game simply because I'm not a 'gamer'. I was kind of confused by ALDO choosing to do gaming as a tactic because I would think that the game approach works more on guys or young kids. With that in mind, usually it's the women who will look for shoe deals- not men and children. I understand their intent, I just think their target is somewhat off!