Consumers are brand curators in this integrated, experiential, social screen age. What are the questions brand owners need to be asking, and to whom?
The sheer number and complexity of meanings assigned to the word ‘brand’ is a modern marketing dilemma. Add to this consumer expectation of the role we expect brands to play in our lives, and how we want them to behave, and you’ll hear dissension in the ranks.
DIALOGUE = CONVERSATION = INTEREST = MORE CONVERSATION = IDEAS = POSSIBILITIES = LEADS = BUSINESS = RECOMMENDATIONS = EXTENDED NETWORK = CONVERSATION ….
Social and digital are the most critiqued channels in the mix. If we strip them right back, the intent is clear. We simply have a fail-proof conversation starter that also happens to be the most far-reaching regardless of the product or service you offer. Social facilitates integration and provides perspectives you never thought you’d consider; it educates and informs. How you engage is your choice, as an individual – as a consumer. The beauty of social is its unique ability to seemingly tie everything together. Just don’t over-think it. There are many examples. Here is a recent beauty.
http://dfergpr.com/2014/03/09/trending-vending-machine-from-oreo-eatthetweet/
“I just started bleeding & I feel fantastic!” Typical image used for feminine hygiene products.
JWT’s latest campaign for Kotex works for all the reasons the media have spelled out. But for many women it will work simply because it was created by women, and therefore makes sense. It’s not that the ads are even that hilarious – JWT could have pushed the humor further – but the campaign is market focused, clever, relevant and fresh.
Mr. Woods isn’t the only product or cause that has used death in some way to motivate customer response. In pondering the use of a dead man’s voice in a major ad campaign I came across some unrelated and diverse examples in the media where death plays its role. The reality is, in whichever way it’s used, it’s shocking but powerful.
Moxie Sozo is the design and advertising agency responsible for the Haiti Poster Project. The same idea has helped raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims in 2005 and the California fire victims in 2007. Two recent poster additions to the Haiti Poster project from Pentagram’s Harry Pearce and Justus Oehlerand are profiled in the latest issue of Creative Review.
http://creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/april/haiti-poster-project
A peculiar story in the British media that ran in February was about Channel 4 TV’s search for a terminally ill patient who would be willing to volunteer to be mummified as part of a documentary. The ads read: ‘We are currently keen to talk to someone who, faced with the knowledge of their own terminal illness and all that it entails, would nonetheless consider undergoing the process of an ancient Egyptian embalming.’ And the surprise bonus is that the chosen candidate may be forever on display in a museum! How cool is that?
And back to Tiger… CBS asked Ad Week’s Barbara Lipford to explain what she thought of the campaign –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Rs7KpA9vlo
Finally, and let no more be said, you gotta love Ad Busters’ graphic spoof depicting Wood’s relationship with Nike.
http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/adbusters-blog/tigerwoods.html
CHANTAL DEZARNAULDS 