Advertising is the art of bringing the right combination of elements together for the purpose of selling.
The convergence of these elements can sometimes make the impossible happen.
In 1979 Perrier wanted to expand to North America, but how do you convince people to pay for something they could get free?
Enter Orson Welles with his 1979 television ad for the "Champagne of Waters" that ushered in bottled water for sale. The perfect convergence of personality, product, and media made the French product a staple in American stores.
How to sell something for which there is no demand will always be a major problem for advertisers; convergence can help. In the case of the vegetable Broccoli Raab, its seller Andy Boy brands relied on the concept to reach young food-conscious consumers.
Partnering with a celebrity chef, Candace Kumai to develop recipes and talk about it on social media and television, the brand used the convergence of personalities, product, and media with success. Appearing on the Wendy Williams Show to prepare recipes for the host, creating video ads for Hulu and YouTube, and hosting a dining event for 70 food and fashion writers was the right mix to jump-start the superfood on mainstream food blogs and websites.
Let's look at these three elements; media, product, and personality more closely in advertising.
First, the Media, which for Doritos had nothing to do with music video except to sponsor one for a hip hop duo, Rae Sremmurd. Billed as the music video you build, it relies on viewers accessing the video on overhere.tv to link their phone with other viewers to watch the performance. As more viewers join the video becomes longer and begins to unlock secret videos featuring real-time commentary by the musicians and other music. Here sponsored media is gaining an audience for the Doritos brand.
Next the Product, which here shares their space with a new publication, TheDrive.com and cars. Time magazine opened a 5,000-square-foot showroom in Brooklyn to house three custom Porsches, an Indy car, and a luxury Volvo hybrid. Located in the Time building, the showroom introduces their new venture that includes two auto themed YouTube channels and serves as a video set for hot car news. It's an example of using new media to support old media ad sales for the print edition of Time magazine.
Finally we have the Personality, in this case professional tennis players who seem to be endorsing everything these days. The current thinking about athletes to advertise is the idea of using them as brand influencers; not necessarily to sell directly but rather to create connections between the brand and consumers.
When Novak Djokovic lost at Wimbledon last summer he tried to tear off his shirt, made by sponsor Uniqlo, and failed. The fail was marketing magic for the shirt brand whose apparently indestructible quality got the attention of viewers in ways conventional advertising could never do.
If you doubt the ability of star athletes to make a connection, consider that Rafael Nadal, as brand ambassador for Tommy Hilfiger, doubled their year over year underwear sales in one month. Nadal, also sponsored by Richard Milles watches, wore their $775,000 RM 27-02 model for one match on the court and all 50 of that model available sold out instantly.
The wild card in these examples, unlike the Perrier example earlier, is the expanding technology options that make the media component accessible for almost every brand situation. Mercedes hired telco data firm Zeotap build clusters of people based on their mobile data billing and voice services each month.
With this information Mercedes targeted two distinct audiences with mobile advertising for their automobiles and the unnamed telco company was able to supplement shrinking profits from the dwindling number of new mobile subscribers.
With the mobile market saturated, the data telcos collect from their subscriber base is valuable for other brands now able to use the information for mobile ads.
Major league baseball teams are now implementing robots to greet visitors to their ballparks and using virtual reality to allow fans to tour teams spring training activities and other aspects of the game previously inaccessible for most ticket buyers. The goal is to enrich fan engagement at the ballpark and to reach kids with the new tech with offerings such as watching the game from the team dugout.
The possibilities for advertisers will be expanding as rapidly as the convergence. You can almost see, hear and taste the 7th inning stretch video sponsored by Doritos starring Candace Kumai singing the virtues of the Broccoli Raab smoothies in the team.
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