ADT Home Alarm Sales – Even the Big Guy Can Be Pushy

link to the story. ADT slides a thin, folded box under your door. Once under the door, the box “pops” open, so when you come home, you think someone gained entry to leave the box. The not-so-subtle message: it’s easier to break into your home than you think…

After 20+ years in this industry, I thought I had seen almost everything – but this is a new one for me! While this particular story comes from Santiago, Chile, it seemed to work there, so we may start to see the approach “popping up” in the US (sorry, bad pun). And while it’s certainly innovative, I can’t say I agree that scaring you by making you think someone was in your home is necessarily the most effective method to advertise an alarm system.

ADT has done other advertising that garnered a negative response, such as blanketing the neighborhood in Cheshire, CT with ads and fliers after a particularly heinous 2007 home invasion that resulted in three murders. ADT later apologized for that campaign. Now that ADT has acquired Broadview Security (formerly Brink’s Home Security), the alarm industry is waiting to see if ADT will continue the thematic content of recent Broadview ads, which have been roundly criticized for their fear-mongering and lack of credible detail – including an absurdly fast response time by the monitoring center. In fact, these Broadview ads were sufficiently extreme to render them skit-fodder on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and plenty of on-line parodies as well.

FrontPoint Security is clearly a proponent of providing as much peace of mind as an alarm system can offer – but within reason. As the leader in wireless home security, we focus on safer systems with cellular monitoring, and provide interactive services to make your alarm system do more – for you. But don’t expect spring-loaded boxes, or scary ads from us – just the facts.