Sometimes you can look at an ad campaign and it just feels right. I would argue the latest Dentyne ICE latest campaign, Practice Safe Breath, just feels right. The campaign is a fun poke at safe sex or at a higher level it is about being prepared when the right moment presents itself.
In life we pass through life stages, like moving out of the parents house or having a child, and find ourselves in a naive situation — not knowing which brands to choose. We build brand affinity based on queues in our life. Sometimes we have the time to build brand knowledge. Time to research. Time to talk to people. Time to choose the right brand based on who we are. In other situations time is not a luxury — it is like we were dropped into a foreign country and we have to adapt. Make choices quickly. Rely on subconscious brand queues and behavioral underpinnings to make the choice.
In a Febraury blog entry, What is a facebook fan worth?, I dimensionalized a method for calculating the worth of a facebook fan, and outlined a three tier approach: recruitment, engagement, and advocacy. Virtue’s calculation is a start. As they state it is a measurement familiar to many online marketers: earned media or cost per impression.
As marketers we advertise to induce change. A change in brand choice. Getting people to rethink their brand selection is about motivating them away from what they do today. Getting them to take a different path — a new path. The question is are we talking to the Elephant or the Rider?
A marketer’s desire is for their customers to talk favorably about our products. Write a great review online. Recommend it to friends. However, many marketers are not patient. They want testimonials. They need testimonials. But they are unwilling to wait for one testimonial at a time. They want something bigger, bolder — something that will effect sales tomorrow. To get immediate results, they feel they need to intercede in the natural word of mouth discussion and help people talk about them.
In the rush for the demonstrative testimonial, marketers try different tactics. Some tactics are artifical, some are authentic. Some work, some don’t.
We have all witnessed the anti-exposure: a commercial that is so annoying it not only wore out its brand welcome, but has also became a detriment to the brand — degrading the brand with each successive viewing.