Paris Hilton ad useless

The ad agency got paid handsomely, and promoted themselves wonderfully.  Paris Hilton got a little bit richer (did she need it?)

But the poor client who shelled out to make the ad, buy the airtime to run it saw no increase in sales of their spicy burger.

To quote the lead para from Ad Age 

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Despite the whirlwind of publicity generated by its Paris Hilton ad, the controversial spot does not appear to have significantly increased Carl's Jr. restaurant sales.

Expecting higher returns
Analysts and industry watchers were expecting much higher returns in the wake of the worldwide attention paid to Carl's Jr. and its Spicy Barbecue burger courtesy of Ms. Hilton's erotic car-washing escapade in the ad.

During a conference call with analysts after the market closed yesterday, Anton Brenner of Roth Capital Partners said: “Particularly looking at Carl’s same-store sales, it doesn’t appear that there is a noticeable boost from the Paris Hilton ads,” he said. “They might have gotten a lot of attention, it’s hard to squint and see how it has impacted your actual sales performance.”

My conclusion :
Whilst sceptics might leap on this to show that viral or word of mouth has no effect I would beg to differ.  This was so badly executed by the agency that most people could not remember which restaurant go-to to buy the burger.

The inevitable result of getting an  ad agencies (traditionally creative-driven) to develop a viral/word of mouth campaign. 

My recommendation:

just as you would not ask a cosmetic surgeon to perform heart surgery, choose the right type agency for the job.