I’m not even sure where to go with this, because I’m confused but here we go.
I had seen the Persil ad during the Super Bowl as I’m sure most did that watched the game. I do not recall seeing the brand before, nor was I aware of it in general. So, today I wanted to look into it. I mean, they did spend about $4.5 Million for the ad.
Since Persil was all that I really remembered about the ad and that it was a laundry detergent, I did the common thing and went to Persil.com. Then scratched my head as I was redirected to Persil.co.uk .
American football game, yet the .com is redirecting to .co.uk ? I was a little put off by this and thought, why not just use geo-targeting or something like that for people visiting from the United States, instead of giving the feel that I need to buy via the UK or it’s not American made or even a company in America. I have nothing against the United Kingdom, it just felt out of place.
Persil.com didn’t jump out at me as a laundry product site either, but it hinted at it. I thought that was a little odd as well.
I actually just left the site and went to Amazon.com to see reviews of the product, as it’s not an item that I would typically buy online.
Still thrown off by the redirect to the .co.uk site, I forgot about it and picked my son up from school.
It was still bugging me though. Why would they spend that kind of money on a Super Bowl ad and redirect the .com to .co.uk? I couldn’t wrap my mind around it. I didn’t recall if they showed a domain in the ad or not, I just remembered the brand name, so that is why I visited Persil.com.
I whois search Persil.com and see it’s owned by Unilever. No clue if they make laundry detergent, they make all kinds of products and are well big enough to run a Super Bowl ad but the redirect still didn’t make sense to me.
I then Google more relating to the Persil Super Bowl Ad and PersilProClean.com is at the top. Click into the site and this is more like it. Very clear this site is about laundry detergent and the man holding the bottle as if it were fine wine rings a bell.
Now even a bit more confused, I whois PersilProClean.com and whois is generic. On the bottom of the website though, PersilProClear.com is owned by Henkel. WTF?
Maybe Unilever owns Henkel? No, according to yet another Google search.
This is crazy! All I wanted to do was look into this Persil laundry detergent and it’s giving me a headache!
Well, after a lot of searching and to make matters worse, Unilever and Henkel both share the trademark for Persil… Henkel owns it and licenses it to Unilever according to Wikipedia… yet Unilever (who licenses the trademark) owns the exact match domain Persil.com?
Talk about confusing and dumb! Maybe next time Henkel, just run an ad for something you only own and make. Oh and go away with all this #gamedaystain crap and put a memorable domain name in the ad and all this didn’t have to take place!
I guess I will just stick with my Tide Free and Clear, because Persil messed with me and now I may need therapy!
Ha! Damn. What a journey bro..
It’s insane to me a company would spend that much on an ad and not even have their branding ducks in a row. #GameDayFail
A lot of failures and missed opportunities in those Super Bowl ads, as far as online navigation is concerned – this year as well as years past. But I saw a few get it right.
One ad in particular had me scratching my head.
It was for a big company (obviously) whose name escapes me yet instead of their .com at the end of the ad they instead used a # with a phrase.
Why spend all of that ad money and not at least plug your website? Some of these companies are clueless when it comes to the internet.
Tom T,
I strongly agree with you! Most ads the past couple years solely focus on a hashtag and I think it’s pure stupidity. Hashtags lack control for the company, where domain names give the owners full control. I personally would ALWAYS advertise with a domain name and not a hashtag.
PersilProClear.com (from your article) is not even registered, which had me scratching my head even more than you lol..
i guess you meant to type PersilProClean.com (n instead of r) as that one resolves indeed to the laundry detergent site..
You are correct Daniel! Fixed in the article, sorry about that!
I researched Persil lady heart when it hit Walmart only on the shelves. It is manufactured in Europe and one of the best selling and cleaning detergents dating back to WWII. It cleans better than 100% better than Tide, smells fresher and it’s not harsh as Tide. It maybe a good stock investment in my opinion.