Down the Rivers

By simon | 07 January

You'd assume that with 140+ stores across Australia, that Rivers have a half-decent marketing and/or advertising agency employed to control their communication to the consumer.

Which makes me beg the question, what's the theory behind it?

If I had a few hours spare to point out the issues with Rivers advertising communication, I'd probably get around to everything but I'll focus on three different areas as a great example of where they're failing.

Before I do this, please note that I suspect Rivers' sales are doing well. Purely based on the volume of their communication they had better be doing well, or someone should be sacked. I mean really, someone SHOULD be sacked. But my point is that sticking to a few basic rules, they could do a lot better.

Website

www.rivers.com.au looks like a little haphazrd. Branding on the front page matches nothing in their brochure, their stores or the rest of the site. The site, when you enter the online store looks...well...basic, and again, doesn't match the launch page.

Every product has three prices underneath it - an online price (which presumably is the one we're going to pay), then for some highly bizarre reason, the same online price in US dollars and finally what they describe as a 'Retail Concept Store Price'. Which has a line through it. When you compare this to the brochures, they also have three prices in them - a 'Retail Store' process, a 'Clearance Store' price and an actual price. How these prices all match up in the great scheme of things is anybodies guess. If I got to the store outside of a sale period what price do I pay? Does it varying depending on which Rivers store I go to? Probably. But why would I pay more at a 'Concept Store' than a 'Clearance store' for the same product?? Clearance stores, by definition should have clearance stock. If I buy some shoes at Brisbane Myer Centre, apparently I can get the same shoes from the same store at Brisbane Airport or just up the road at Lutwyche.

The contact panel has an email address in it, which isn't linkable.

And for some reason, they feel the need to tell the consumer with two little icons at the bottom of the page that they validate HTML 4.01. Don't ask me what that means. Mike says its technical stuff. But then you click on the link, and it doesn't actually validate HTML 4.01.

So, the link to some coding technical jargon works. But the link to their email doesn't.

Plus there's a whole page of webmaster tips. Which of course, the consumer couldn't give two hoots about.

Brochure

Brochure issues include the following: random fonts, two very small mentions of the website, outlined fonts, really poor quality photos throughout the brochure, plus an advert for Kia. Yes. An advert for Kia. They've sold a page of their communication to Kia for their Rondo7. Hmm.

But the main issue I have with the brochure is this sentence.

"At the time of printing we have over 10,300 units of these shoes. Your local store may have lots, or none."

Yes. Really. They have put that on every page. EVERY page and EVERY product. They're using scarcity as a tactic but they've managed to wholly mess that up in the way they've constructed that sentence. Think about how that sentence makes you feel. I had a bit of a Rugs-a-million moment. Does it inject any urgency into how quickly I get to their stores? Am I going to be majorly pissed off that when I went there, they HAD actually sold out? Yes. If I go an try and buy a pair of boardshorts and they're sold out, what will I think when I get the next brochure? Yep, I'll switch off because I equate my last experience of their stock control to all future expectations of their ability to supply me the product. They've not just set themselves up to fail, but they've deliberately pointed out over and over again that they may fail you. Would you turn into the petrol station that had a board outside that said 'we may not have any petrol'? Or how about the pub that sends you an email saying 'come down for a drink but we might have run out of beer when you get here'? Can anyone find these people a copywriter?

Finally, Rivers = Outdoor = The Environment. They're printed 10,000s of these brochures. Any mention of recycled paper? Their approach to the environment? FSC approved printer? Nope. None.

TVC

Spoken by someone who sounds like they have no interest in anything they're talking about. He sounds so bored by the prospect of being in this Rivers' advert he's about to top himself.This is the OUTDOORS for god's sake. Be active. Be excited. Be energised. The very least lets get passionate about what we're talking about people! The TVC itself is static pictures. So static pictures and a bored voice. Am I engaged? Am I going to rush to the stores excited with the prospect of climbing up a mountain? No chance.

So lessons learned here are multiple but can probably be summed up in one brief sentence: "Engage your consumers'"

And also remember, there are reasons why people are professional web-designers, copy-writers, creatives and voice-over actors. Rivers advertising is a great example of why you should be employing those professionals.