It’s more than just CTR, Lysol
As discussed in class, Google features both sponsored slots on their results page in addition to the list calculated by their algorithm. Well, Lysol wasted little time in taking advantage of the recent Ebola crisis and used it to their advantage to increase their internet traffic. As most people are aware, Ebola has recently skyrocketed in popularity as cases of it appear in the United States. Because we as a society tend to turn to Google to find all our answers, this means that the frequency of the search query “Ebola” has increased dramatically as well. Knowing this, Lysol purchased the top advertising slot for the query “Ebola.” Examining this move strictly in analysis as we do in class, there is nothing wrong with this move by Lysol. However, the fact that they are not entirely relevant to the Ebola crisis has led to criticism of the brand for purchasing the spot. The brand has abandoned the top spot, and a link to Lysol.com will no longer appear upon searching “Ebola.”
So, why is Lysol being criticized for purchasing a spot that will clearly provide them excellent numbers in internet traffic? The following graph clearly shows that Ebola has seen a large increase in recent interest:
So, are people just mad that Lysol was the first to act and purchase the spot? Not exactly. The problem here is that Lysol is a standard cleaning product. While they advertise that using their product can help rid surfaces of the Ebola virus if it is contaminated, Lysol is far from the solution to Ebola. Ebola is typically transmitted person to person anyway, so Lysol’s ability to clean surfaces is rather irrelevant. Criticism ensued as people realized that Lysol was just taking advantage of the word’s increased popularity. What can be taken away from this is that other factors must be taken into consideration when examining an advertiser’s valuation of a slot besides click through rate. In this case, how serious and relevant one’s product is to the search term plays a key role.
http://www.businessinsider.com/lysol-ebola-google-ad-2014-10