Aqua Rug (Shower Mat / Carpet) – A Marketing Review

It’s another early morning as you stumble your way into the bathroom, barely missing the cat as it peacefully sleeps in the hallway.  It looks up and gives you a dirty look for nearly stepping on it again.  Then the cat does a big yawn before lowering its furry head and drifting back to sleep.

Why can’t my life be more like that, you can’t help but wonder.  Sleeping all day on carpeting and furniture without a care in the world.  The carpeting part rings through your mind again as your bare feet step onto the cold, hard tile of the bathroom floor.  The tile happens to be extra chilly this morning as it’s still winter and your home’s thermostat was only set to 62 degrees.

%&$ tile!  Why can’t I just have carpeting everywhere throughout the house?  Why hasn’t somebody invented a carpeting for the shower yet?  I want comfort!!!

You step into the steaming hot shower and place your feet on the hard tiles.  And then it hits you like a ton of cat poop.  Somebody did invent a carpet for the shower and bathroom.  Just last night you saw it advertised in an as-seen-on-TV commercial.

Aqua Rug website — www.BuyAquaRug.com

It’s the Aqua Rug!  According to the advertisement, now you can have that ultra-luxurious lifestyle of having a carpet in your shower!  No more standing on a hard surface while washing your body!

Aqua Rug TV commercial

Let’s take a closer look at the Aqua Rug advertisement and see how it’s being sold to the general public.

Aqua Rug TV commercial – Who in the world would put carpeting in their shower?!?

The Aqua Rug TV commercial begins with product pitchman Tim Goewey loving the feeling of carpeting on bare feet.  He seems quite perplexed though at the thought of putting carpeting in the shower.  Nobody would ever be that dependent on constant comfort that they would put carpeting in a shower, right?

Aqua Rug TV commercial – It may blend in so well that you’ll forget it’s in the bath tub.

Ah, but apparently now we can have carpeting in the shower and bath tub thanks to the Aqua Rug.  Just place it on the shower’s floor or in the bath tub and there you go, instant comfort for your feet.

Aqua Rug TV commercial – A little bit of extra comfort for your poor footsies.

As we listen carefully to the fast talking announcer, water is designed to flow right through the Aqua Rug, and the rug doesn’t need suction cups or anything else to hold it in place.  The Aqua Rug can be placed both inside or outside the bath tub or shower, just like a foot towel.  Then again foot towels are designed to keep the floor dry while drying the bottom of your feet whereas water is designed to flow through the Aqua Rug.

Aqua Rug TV commercial – Watch me play with my feet while sitting in the shower.

Up next we have a “reviewer” telling us that she thinks the Aqua Rug is awesome.  Yeah, that’ll convince people to go out and buy the product.  Having an older woman rubbing her feet on the rug in the shower while speaking in generic terms and sounding like she’s talking while sitting on the can (there’s too much echo from the room) isn’t the best of “testimonials” to use in a commercial.  You mean that grandma likes the product?  Oh, I better run out and get it!

Aqua Rug TV commercial – Somebody forgot to wash their bathroom rug for the past three years!  Ewwwww!

Now you can throw away your old foot towel / bathroom rug.  Or you can just wash and continue re-using it as you normally would.  Apparently the dirty bathroom rug in this example hasn’t seen the washing machine for quite some time.  This unclean problem was caused by a person’s filthy habit, not because of the product itself.

Aqua Rug TV commercial – Now *this* is a filthy bath mat!

Again we see the nasty underside of a bathroom aide that has apparently never seen any cleaning.  Like the filthy bathroom rug in the previous example, ALL bathroom accessories still need regular cleaning every once in a while.  This is NOT a defect of those accessories.  It’s just part of maintaining a home.  Clean rooms help prevent the spread of diseases and infestation of bugs and roaches.

Does this mean that the Aqua Rug never has to be cleaned or washed on a semi-regular basis?  That’s unlikely.  It never having to be cleaned or washed would be a huge selling feature and we’d hear all about it in the advertisement.  When you take a shower, how much crap that gets washed off your body will still get stuck and embedded in the Aqua Rug?  Perhaps you’ll want to give the rug a good healthy washing every once in a while.

Aqua Rug TV commercial – Watch me wash the rug immediately with a high-pressure water hose!

Next we see how Aqua Rug supposedly is resistant to stains.  Tim Goewey put some mud, slop and some red wine on the rug and then quickly rinsed it away.  Does it matter that he used a high-pressure hose a few inches away from the rug to clean it, or that he held the stained part of the rug in the air?  No pressure was placed on the stained rug to grind that stuff into the rug, and the rug was also rinsed immediately with a high-pressure hose.  The rug sounds pretty easy to clean when it’s in an ideal situation like that.  How about a “normal” situation where people may not notice the stains for hours or days later and then they try to clean the rug?  How easy is it to clean in a realistic situation like that?

Aqua Rug TV commercial – Just in case you tried to use bleach to remove stains on a stain-resistant rug.

But what about cleaning the Aqua Rug with bleach?  According to the TV commercial the rug will not fade if you were to clean it with a pure bleach.  That example makes you wonder why it was included in the TV commercial as A) they just claimed that it was stain-resistant, so there shouldn’t be any stains that require bleach anyway, and B) the Aqua Rug looks to be off-white, so any color fading of any sort for any reason would barely be noticed in the long run.

Aqua Rug TV commercial – It claims to make your feet feel soooooo good.

After hitting some weak selling points, the advertisement switches back to the main reason for purchasing the Aqua Rug —- it helps your feet feel comfortable while you take a shower.  I mean, that’s all we all way during a shower, right?  Who cares about the nice and hot water that relaxes and massages your body?  The real point of shower comfort is giving your poor little footsies a comfortable place to stand for a few moments.

Aqua Rug TV commercial – Why would you want to place it right over the drain?

Two more dingbats give their opinions about the Aqua Rug before we see an example of placing the rug right over the drain.  The commercial acts like this is how you’re supposed to use the product.  And why exactly should you do that?

A) In may showers and bath tubs, the drain is located directly underneath the lower faucet at the side of the tub.  The problem is that you normally stand in the middle or opposite side of the tub so that you’re not hit in the face from the water flowing out of the upper faucet.  So if you’re supposed to place the Aqua Rug over the drain, then in many showers you won’t get to stand on it.

B) Although the advertisement claims that water passes right through the Aqua Rug (no disputes there), it’s more of a question of how QUICKLY it passes through the rug.  Placing anything over the drain will slow the drainage process of the water.  Unless you enjoy having the water level in the shower slowly rise and cover your feet, ankles and lower legs, then you really should NOT have ANYTHING slow down the drainage process.

Aqua Rug TV commercial – A luxury of rich people is now yours to enjoy!

Just in case you still weren’t sold about the Aqua Rug, the advertisement lets us in on a little tidbit — rich people have been using stuff like this on their expensive yachts!  Now it’s available for you and at such a cheap price, too!  Just wait until Monday morning when you go into your boss’ office and proudly tell him that you have carpeting in your shower using the same stuff he has on his million-dollar yacht.  I bet he’ll blow a gasket knowing that one of his secrets of luxury has gotten out to the rest of the world.  Again.

Of course, this is assuming that we’re talking about the same exact products AND quality level here in this rich-envy comparison.  Anything less would just be unethical.  No advertisement would ever try to mislead you, right?

Aqua Rug TV commercial – The sales promotion.

The end of the Aqua Rug TV commercial has the sales pitch for the product.  Sure enough, there’s a promotion where we can get a second rug for free.  All we have to do is pay a small fortune in shipping and handling.  Hey, if we can get a small taste of the good life and what those evil millionaires use on their yachts, then an extra fee for a second item isn’t such a bad idea, right?

Aqua Rug website ordering page — www.BuyAquaRug.com

There’s a catch though with the Aqua Rug.  When ordering the product through the company’s website, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ACCEPT THE “FREE” SECOND ITEM!  I’m shocked that it’s even an option.  Perhaps there have been too many complaints about people being ripped off by those other as-seen-on-TV product promotions.  Do take note that the “Yes” box is already checked for your convenience, but it’s easy to change it by selecting the “No” box.

Aqua Rug website ordering page — www.BuyAquaRug.com

The TOTAL COST of the Aqua Rug promotion depends where you live and if you want the second rug.  You’ll have to enter your zip code to see the total cost as the cost of shipping is not mentioned in the advertisement OR on the website.  I entered one of my favorite zip codes for this example.

• Ordering a SINGLE Aqua Rug and living in an area without paying sales tax costs $27.98 ($19.99 + $7.99 S&H).

• Ordering the DOUBLE pack with the “free” Aqua Rug and living in an area without paying sales tax costs $35.97 ($19.99 + $7.99 S&H + $7.99 S&H).

FINAL THOUGHTS

The bottom line with the Aqua Rug is if you really need some extra comfort for your feet while spending a few minutes in the shower.  That’s it.  If you’re looking for some extra traction in the bath tub, those shower mats with suction cups have been around for ages.  Bathroom mats are also significantly cheaper than $27.98 or $35.97.

Remember that this product does not clean your feet like a brush, nor does it provide a massage.  It’s just there to provide a little bit of cushion and comfort instead of having you stand on a hard surface.  In the example with the older woman, she’s sitting in a chair so it’s not like a whole lot of pressure was on her feet in the first place.  Aqua Rug’s greatest selling point (and that’s a very short list) can be surmised by one of the “testimonials” in the commercial — “It feels great on your feet.”

The examples showing the dirty bath mats fail because everything in the home and bathroom needs regular cleaning.  You’ll even be cleaning the Aqua Rug every once in a while to keep it fresh and clean.  Are you just going to assume that the rug will stay perfectly clean and no dirt, bacteria or anything else will get caught over time in the rug’s fibers?  Yeah, sure you will.  That’s why the underside of your bath mats look so grimy and filthy.  Go clean your bathroom!

The Aqua Rug’s website is incredibly simple and offers almost no details about the product itself.  The website also has a couple areas that deserve attention.

Aqua Rug website — www.BuyAquaRug.com

For example, the FAQ page is pretty pathetic when you ONLY HAVE ONE QUESTION ON IT!  If you feel the need for an FAQ page, you should really try to put more information on it besides the product’s dimensions.  That information should have found its way onto the main page.

Another interesting part of the Aqua Rug’s website is that the ordering page is NOT on the main page.  This is a flaw and will only cost you potential sales in the end.  Think about it for a moment.  The TV commercial did the heavy work and brought a potential customer to the website.  That person is already interested and most likely looking to place an order.  Why in the world are you going to make them click a link and go to a new page to place the order?  Making them click that link will give them one more chance to change their mind and not give you the business.

When you have a simple website created primarily for people to place an order, NEVER make them jump through hoops and click on links before they enter their credit card information!  The website was not designed to sell the person on the product.  The TV commercial already did that part.  These websites are there to collect the customers’ payment and shipping information.  The rest of the flashy stuff on the website is there to keep the customer focused on the product until they provide their credit card number.

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All of the Aqua Rug commercial images were screenshots of a TV commercial currently available on YouTube and the product’s website.  For more product information, please visit the company’s website at www.BuyAquaRug.com.

RellimZone.com is not affiliated with Aqua Rug.

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This article was originally published at www.chamberofreviews.com on February 5, 2013.  All of the comments are as they originally appeared.