Monday, August 2, 2010

Lessons from the world's best

as Published in the Globe and Mail (National Edition) - August 2, 2010

The shift occurring in the area of marketing communications was on display at this year's Cannes Advertising Festival. As always, when the world comes together to compare notes on the best marketing work from across the globe, certain trends become apparent.

The winning works focused on the role of brands in consumers' lives. The best marketers and their agencies used communications to add value. From campaigns that tapped into emotional connections, to ones that enhanced the customer service experience, this year's Cannes winners were thought-provoking for marketers and agencies alike.

Give consumers something to love
Everyone has a degree of cynicism about advertising, yet many marketers persist in selling on logic rather than emotion. That's likely because logic is rational, easier and safer. If you let people know why something is good that should be enough. Emotional selling is tougher, mainly because it doesn't work unless it's authentic. Ultimately, if you get it right it pays big dividends. People really do want a reason to love your brand.

A great example from Cannes this year was the Replay campaign from Gatorade. The sports drink maker decided to reignite the athletic spark in adults older than 30, of whom only three of 10 in the U.S. exercise regularly. The Gatorade team returned to two U.S. high schools with a century-old football rivalry - Phillipsburg and Easton, N.J., and chose a tie game from 15 years earlier for the former students to replay.

The players trained at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute for two months, with documentary video clips building the story online. In April, the coaches, players, cheerleaders and school band members, together with NFL quarterbacks and Gatorade-sponsored athletes Peyton and Eli Manning, replayed the game. Regional sales of Gatorade shot up 63 per cent. Now, Gatorade has a property they are using to engage other former high school teams, and using social media has called for nominations for the 2010 Replay team.

Engage your target consumer
One of the more interesting examples came from Yellow Pages in New Zealand. Faced with increased competition from online search, Yellow Pages needed to demonstrate to advertisers why they should continue to use Yellow Pages. In a bold piece of marketing, Yellow Pages issued a challenge to create the taste of yellow to prove you can get any job done using the Yellow Pages. They cast a young New Zealander and filmed his quest to create a Yellow-tasting chocolate bar. Following his progress through TV ads and social media, New Zealanders watched the creation of the product. When the chocolate bar launched in January it became the fastest selling candy bar, outselling the market leader by two to one. Yellow Pages usage increased 9 per cent, and the campaign became the most talked about in the country. Yellow Pages took a chance on engaging people directly with their brand, rather than just selling the brand's features, and it paid off.

Find the unmet need
It feels like an obvious observation but a lot of brand communication is driven by "what's the best thing we can say about our brand?" versus "what is it that consumers really need?" A great example of directly addressing a consumer's pain-point is this year's Cannes Titanium winner - Best Buy's Twelpforce campaign. Twelpforce takes the fact that people become frustrated when they can't understand technology, and addresses it head-on. Best Buy's ad agency created Twelpforce, which leverages Best Buy's knowledgeable work force and lets customers ask questions via Twitter. Any Best Buy employee can respond immediately with answers.

If it works, build on it
Sometimes marketers and their agency partners tap into a campaign idea that ends up becoming a cultural force of its own. The Old Spice "the man your man could smell like" campaign is the most recent example. Old Spice took an unexpected creative turn by creating a story for the brand that tapped an emotional, rather than functional, insight. And, by striking a knowing, self-aware tone that broke through people's barriers and long-held expectations, Old Spice has become the most talked about brand of the moment.

The toughest challenge when you strike it right is how to follow up and continue to build engagement. The Old Spice team has done this in a masterful way by posting YouTube clips of the Old Spice actor in the shower directly answering consumer questions. These clips, as well as the Old Spice ads, have become some of the most searched viral videos.

Take advantage of buzz
Creative marketing means thinking laterally. It's about making unexpected connections that look and feel completely natural in hindsight. There are a lot of great historic examples where brands jumped on something that was getting a lot of media coverage and managed to hijack extra focus for their story.

A good example from Cannes this year was Polo mints. Last December when U.K. citizens were lamenting a blanket of fresh, white snow, Polo jumped into action and created a "Polo snow stamp" which, when stamped on benches, roadways, cars, etc., left an impression that looked exactly like the Polo mint. For a tiny budget Polo created something unexpected that felt exactly right for the brand.

No comments:

Post a Comment