Hivelocity's new campaign features a provocative model and innuendo more typical of spam than a dedicated server promo.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Less than two weeks into the month, dedicated server provider Hivelocity (www.hivelocity.net) has already launched two quirky ad campaigns in December designed to help launch its services into the limelight.
The company began a racy new promotion last week, letting new customers add unmetered bandwidth and double the ram on any server for an extra $20 per month. Its new “the Server Stud” promotion, a parody of male enhancement ads, lets customers make their server “bigger, stronger and last longer.” For an extra $20 per month, each new server will get double the ram, 10Mbps unmetered bandwidth and a 16 to 32MB cache raid-specific server-grade SATA hard drive.
This promotion delivers the equivalent of $75 per month savings compared to standard pricing, according to the company. It is also available for every new Hivelocity server, which start at $109 per month, with the lone exception being its Dual-Six Core Xeon server which already includes 8GB ram and SAS hard drives, priced at $799 per month.
Dedicated and managed hosting provider The Planet (www.theplanet.com) announced an unmetered bandwidth option for its dedicated server customers earlier in the week, in two variations: a 10Mbps option for $200 per month, and a 100Mbps option for $1,800 per month.
Hivelocity’s ad campaign is more about attention, however, using the clichés of spam, Hivelocity has a scantily clad woman’s photo on its specials page.
This week, Hivelocity launched a new offer to rescue hosting customers who have been made “castaways” when sinking hosting companies such as AlphaRed (which filed for bankruptcy this week) leave customers looking for alternatives. Hivelocity has already created banners inviting “hosting castaways” to come over to its data center. The ads feature Wilson, Tom Hank’s volleyball companion from the movie “Cast Away.”
While the company is obviously not afraid to push the envelope, Hivelocity general manager Steve Eschweiler said its marketing efforts, whether quick-footed or clever, perform the important function of shining a light on the company’s hosting solutions and services.
Who came up with the idea of spoofing male enhancement emails? How was it received when it was brought up in meeting?
Steve Eschweiler: Its not just emails we are spoofing, these ads on your TV and radio every day. I actually came up with the idea during a sales meeting. I wanted to create a campaign that allowed a customer to upgrade several aspects of their server for one low price. The idea was to make the server last longer and more powerful…once someone said that aloud at the meeting, male enhancement ads immediately came to mind. We all had a big laugh over the obvious correlations and then we got to work on it with our developers.
What feedback have you received since launching the ad campaign?
SE: So far the campaign has been a great success. We have about 60 percent of our new signups adding the Server Stud promotion. It’s an easy sell really. Doubling the ram alone makes the $15 extra a good deal.
Web hosts like Go Daddy have been known to appeal to customers’ sense of humor to great success. As this is obviously part of Hivelocity’s strategy, how do you know where to draw the line?
SE: Hivelocity has always tried to grab people’s attention with its marketing. The “make it bigger” ads can be heard on the radio or seen on TV and the Internet every day. While we may be pushing the envelope a little, we are just trying to make fun of some pop-culture and sell some servers. Take the innuendo out of it and we are in fact making servers stronger, bigger and last longer. I think common sense lets you know where to draw the line. The overwhelming success of the campaign says a lot more people are laughing than cringing.
Were there any concerns that this campaign could be taken the wrong way?
SE: Any time you are marketing to a mass audience with a racy advertising campaign you know there is going to be some risk of someone taking it too seriously.
Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about the new ad strategy?
SE: As I said earlier, Hivelocity has always tried to grab people’s attention with its advertising. We hope everyone gets a chuckle out of it. I guarantee this will not be the last Hivelocity campaign that induces excitement and laughter.
