Sun Tries to Make Servers Sexy

A recent print ad from Sun about the Fire X4100 server is modeled on a Playboy centerfold spread and features images of the server and quotes on the data sheet such as "I’m petite and powerful with plenty of room for cables."  The ad drives users online to www.sun.com/sweetdreams as a landing page to learn more about the campaign.  Unfortunately, the landing page does nothing with the core concept of the campaign, and as a result provides a great case study for how often web landing pages are a forgotten element when a campaign takes a uni-dimensional view of the consumer. 

The landing page does not contain any reference to the playful nature of the centerfold ad, and in fact the given URL simply redirects to a product page for the X4100.  The result is a confusing user experience where the potential power of an integrated marketing campaign is severly diluted.  In this lost opportunity, there are two key lessons that emerge for marketers planning an integrated campaign across multiple mediums:

1. Have a dedicated landing page instead of just directing (or redirecting) to an existing product/corporate page
2. Make sure the message and imagery is consistent between creative driving users to the landing page and what is featured on the page

Both seems like obvious points, but at times it seems that the necessity of including a URL along with the fact that most companies now have a web presence has created a phenomenon of including a website URL without thinking through the content on the page you are sending people to.  The result is that weak landing pages that lose the very consumers most valuable to connect with – the ones that chose to interact further with a campaign.  Improving the landing page is the key to keeping or losing those high value customers.