Josh Bourne ⬥ 19 August
This poster caught my eye recently for two reasons. First was the highlighted letter K, which drew attention to the intentional misspelling of the word “respect.” Second was the simplicity of the advertising message that included only a slogan and a prominently displayed domain name. Curious to find out what ‘respekt’ “means to me,” I visited getsomerespekt.com, which led me to a site for Cricket Communications, a wireless provider that offers broadband, mobile phones, and pay-as-you-go plans.
A bit more research revealed that this domain name and the poster I saw were part of Cricket’s new “Respekt” ad campaign, which features the classic Aretha Franklin song and promotes Cricket’s low prices (“respect for your wallet”) and the flexibility of pay-as-you-go plans (“respect for your freedom”). Cricket’s logo features an oversized green K. The company centers its branding around this symbol, which is why the word “respect” is spelled with a K in its promotions.
Normally, I would think getsomerespekt.com is a terrible domain name – it’s long, it has nothing to do with the Cricket brand and it requires consumers to remember to misspell a common word. But Cricket covered its bases well with this campaign and didn’t put all of its stock into a single domain. The domains getsomerespect.com, cricketrespekt.com and cricketrespect.com all redirect to getsomerespekt.com, meaning that consumers do not have to remember the misspelling or the entire slogan. In addition, other advertisements, both print and on television, include Cricket’s primary domain name, mycricket.com, giving consumers yet another way to access the company online.
This campaign stood out to me as an interesting example of how brands can utilize domain names as creative marketing tools. By combining it with a catchy slogan and a hugely popular song, Cricket was able to use the getsomerespekt.com domain to underscore and strengthen its marketing message, as well as present consumers with a new platform through which to interact with the brand. You’ve got to respekt that.
Tags: ad campaign, Aretha Franklin, brands, consumers, Cricket Communications, domain names, marketing, misspelling, mobile phones, slogan