Delta Delayed

I'm catching up with myself; the last two posts were from things I noticed last week, and this particular post is about something I noticed yesterday.

Again, I was looking at a link from Drudge, and an ad for Delta Air Lines was next to the article. I hovered over it to see if it was an interactive advertisement. It only moved the destinations as I hovered over them. Boring. The tagline "Cheat On NY" intrigued me, and so I clicked on the ad. It led to a Web page where you can make trip reservations. It explains that Delta is New York (City)'s most international airline.

My eyes scroll down and see "instant win game". I click here for the official rules and instructions, curious to see what the grand prize was. After further review, I see that the contest ended in November of 2006 and was only "available" to New York City residents who frequent the bus stops there.

I go back to the "Delta - Cheat On NY" page and see that the flights from Accra, Gatwick, and Mumbai don't open until November and December of 2006. It's March of 2007. Why does this ad campaign still exist? I have tried to find Delta's agency, so I could contact them, but I haven't been able to yet. (Note: The same goes for the Chevrolet Cobalt campaign. It may be Campbell-Ewald, but their site is under construction.) If anyone knows the agency, please let me know.



Update (12:08 AM, March 21, 2007): I went back to the "Delta - Cheat On NY" Web page and hovered over the destinations. Each one enlarges and turns over, showing that it is a postcard. The virtual stamp shows an "07".

Herein lies the problem. The viewer (would be consumer) takes things at face value, especially with advertising. You often don't get a second chance to sell your product. If I was in the market, I would be perusing Delta's competitors right now. Make things evident to the viewer or they may choose someone else.