FidoDuo/Opportunity lost...

I was stopped on the street by some folks who looked around my age, trying to sell me on getting my photo taken so they could find me my "Fido dog duo". Being with Rogers (and while, quite unhappy with their terrible online service) I wasn't too interested in switching to Fido, and to be honest, I can't even tell you one phone feature that Fido offered, other than Fido to Fido calling (I think). Either way, I was pulled into some trailer and asked to make various faces (sad dog, angry dog, panting dog, etc.). The lady taking the photos then showed me the photos and told me I had to pick my favorite. She recommend I choose my "sad puppy face", and I abliged and agreed to let her submit it. My understanding was that if they liked the photo of me and the dog that I would be paired up with, I might be featured in a Fido ad (some subconscious desire for celebrity fame got the best of me). I was told that I would receive an email in 48 hours with my photo and it would have my Dog match.

To my disappointment, when I received the email, I had to login to the Fido website where I was required to select my facial features (I was hoping they would've had some software to analyze my face and do this work for me) and on my own opinion, choose a dog that looked like my photo. I was also quite disappointed with their database of dog faces (after selecting more than 3 or 4 specific options of facial features, the amount of dogs to choose from dwindled down to 1-2 or none at all. I guess my big question is, once they had got me in the trailer, why not try and explain some of the benefits of Fido's plans/phones or gee maybe I dunno, TRY AND SELL ME SOMETHING?!?. Instead, once I had told the women I already had a plan with Rogers (how many students these days own a cell phone not tied into a plan? Pay as you go?) she seemed to lose interest in selling me anything, and just pushed the novelty of finding me my doggie doppelgänger. Why not try and build a customer relationship, regardless of how many years I have left in my contract (only one), and since you already have me in a trailer, start selling.

Companies that look to event/experimental advertising as a way of seeming "in touch" with culture, should be focusing on relationship building, instead of hiring cheap interns to do this work, get some real sales people down there, train them, invest in having knowledgeable staff on that ground level. I guess their desire is that I will now ask people to vote for my "FidoDuo" in some HotOrNot spinoff, thus attracting more users to their website, spawning some amazingly awesome viral campaign (I'll take "Obvious attempts at seeming 2.0" for 100 Alex!). I personally feel this was a great marketing idea poorly executed. Hey Fido, next time you have got me in your trailer, make the most of my time, I probably won't want to listen to what you have to say, but at least make the attempt. In closing, please vote for my Duo on this website, I really want to be in advertising.

Dare

to be first.