I’ve got to take my hat off to the creators of this one – Peel Away Ads.
I know it’s pretty old news as far as internet marketing goes but if you haven’t seen it in action before, take a look at the sales page:
Peel Away Ads Salespage (opens in new window)
See in the top left hand corner?
Hover over that little triangle and the corner just “peels” away to reveal an advert.
Click on it and you are taken to whichever page the advertiser wants to show you.
It’s eye-catching, innovative and looks great…
Problem is, it isn’t advertised very well in some cases.
For example, check this screenshot I found on somebody’s blog today:
It says “Currently 250% Off Standard Price“.
Fair enough, you may say – until you think about it.
How can something be 250% off? Isn’t that impossible? Surely the most you can discount a price by is 100%?
Without getting too technical, let’s consider the maths:
Example -> 50% off £250
£250 x ((100 – 50) / 100) = £250 x 0.5 = £125
Another example -> 75% off £250
£250 x ((100 – 75) / 100) = £250 x 0.25 = £62.50
So, it follows that 250% off £250 would be:
£250 x ((100 – 250) / 100) = £250 x -1.5 = -£375
Minus £375?
Unless I’m completely wrong, does that not mean that to give a discount of 250% on a price of £250, you would have to give the customer £375 in cash?
Peel Away Ads, brilliant advertising idea let down by poor maths!