We’d love to say this was 100% planned but, as in some of the best campaigns, they develop from an idea into something far greater.The initial advert was ‘leaked’ out to several Social Media groups and individuals to enables priority bookings for an exclusive Black Friday deal. Bookings came in – the deal was great – then we noticed a mistake on our copy! We had put the date wrong advertising the event as Friday 30th November instead of Friday 29th November. No excuses, we’d messed it up. Pull the advert or create something from it? We chose the later and started to write fresh copy, and resent with the same graphic panel (which didn’t contain the date), thus:
Oops. We made a mistake
We know what you’re thinking – the Black Friday skate price HAD to be a mistake, it was just too good to be true – it wasn’t it really IS just £5 pp – but we did get the date wrong.
The offer for a £5 ice skate is valid for Friday 29th not, as we put it, Friday 30th.
So you can either skate in 2029 (ie the next time there is a Friday November 30th!) or head down Friday 29th Nov, 2019, that’s tomorrow, and enjoy a Black-Friday-post-school-payday-Friday-weekend-starting-fun-fest-Friday at four.
Let’s just check the date again: Friday, 29th November, 2019. 4pm. Yup, that’s it.
The writer has been suitably shamed and has been sent off to polish the ice rink with their face!
So for books sake (and oh yes, we checked and double checked the spelling on that statement!) – click here: XXXX
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The new post reached almost 2,500 people – it was emailed out too, to another 6,000. The response was great with more tickets sold – and a couple of responses, including this:
“That apology is brilliant. You are to be congratulated. If only other businesses adopted the same attitude the retail market would be much improved. Stand for election and you will get my vote.” Regards David Boucher.
We thought we’d try it again, continuing with the mistake theme…
The ice rink has now been polished and someones face is positively glowing (see previous post).
Our copywriter has returned and ready for action, but instead I’m writing this one to ensure there are no mistakes (see previous post).
I thought I’d write about why Black Friday is so called and whilst doing so, I have asked my able assistant to find a suitable photo to accompany my words. What could possibly go wrong?
So: Black Friday is an informal name for the Friday following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November.
The earliest evidence of the phrase Black Friday applied to the day after Thanksgiving in a shopping context suggests that the term originated in Philadelphia, where it was used to describe the heavy and disruptive pedestrian and vehicle traffic that would occur on the day after Thanksgiving.
There perfect.
#ifyouwantsomethingdoing
Wait…..
Oh.
*$&£
If you’d like to take advantage of Black Friday, reduced Ice Skating at Whilton Locks Winter Wonderland on Friday 29th November at 4pm, then please book here:
(Link Removed)
Get my coat, I’m going home.
Again the reaction was very good – almost 3,000 people were reached with Rob Hunt commenting “Whoever writes your copy, sort them a payrise!”
A third version was then sent out thus:
There’s a bit of friction here at Whilton Locks Garden Village today, after the recent written errors on our Social Media feeds.
Everyone makes mistakes, which is why they added erasers to the end of pencils. So we have all had a little team meeting, shed a few tears, gone through some new procedures on Powerpoint and nibbled several biscuits.
We all agreed to get on and that the Black Friday Ice Skate was, indeed, a fantastic offer. If you’d like to take advantage of Black Friday, reduced Ice Skating at Whilton Locks Winter Wonderland on Friday 29th November at 4pm, then please book here:
(Link Removed)
The copywriting team have gone through these words like a well-oiled machine, thorough and diligently and handed over this latest post to the graphics team, who are equally excited about the offer. So here it is…
Tada!
….
oh sh…
This one last post reached out to almost 9,000 people. All three posts were greeted with ‘like, love and laugh’ emoji’s and needless to say the event, thanks to this campaign, with zero boosting spend, was sold out within just 24 hours!
FEEDBACK: “That apology is brilliant. You are to be congratulated. If only other businesses adopted the same attitude the retail market would be much improved. Stand for election and you will get my vote.”
Regards David Boucher.
