Advertising usually doesn’t offer the consumer anything of real tangible value — other than a few funny one-liners to toss around. But a new Ask.com campaign running in Seattle dubbed “You Asked, We Answered” is looking to make life a little bit easier around here.
The online question-and-answer site polled Seattle residents during a two-week period last month about what they would most like to see happen in the city this summer, from easing the morning commute to reducing stadium traffic to refilling the wading pools at city parks. Now, the company is in the midst of delivering on the promises.
It started on May 29th when the company handed out free coffee and mugs at Park & Ride locations throughout the city. Now, here comes the latest effort.
After the Mariners’ games on June 16, 17, 30 and July 1, Ask.com will employ a fleet of free pedicabs to transport fans to their cars, local pubs or other establishments near the stadium.
Next up, the company is planning to donate funds to make sure wading pools at East Queen Anne, Powell Barnett and Wallingford are filled up on Saturdays throughout the summer.
“We’ve shifted our marketing focus to a highly-targeted local strategy and Seattle continues to be a top market for us, especially when it comes to connectivity on mobile devices,” said Valerie Combs, a spokesperson at Ask.com. “We want to show the community a little love and while we can’t permanently do away with those 520 bridge tolls or promise more sunshine, we can make their days a little easier.”
Ask.com, the unit of IAC formerly known as Ask Jeeves, needs to do all it can in order to catch up in search. According to a comScore report out yesterday, the company’s share of the search market stood at just three percent in May, well behind Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.
What do you think? Effective ad campaign? Or, are these corporate types just buttering us up?
