GM Heralds Impending Rebirth in Brand Push
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Grandparents - new target audience?
There was an interesting article published in the NY Times this weekend about the boomer audience and how they may be an over-looked target for marketers. From diapers, to toys and gifts, grandparents are spending on their children's children. They also may be more apt to spend on themselves and their pets, more willing to travel, spend money on taking care of their health, etc...
I am intrigued by the author's assumption that boomers aren't working and that they have their mortgages paid off and therefore better financially prepared. This is the audience that's most likely to have been hit the hardest by the economic recession, where what they have saved has been cut in half recently. An interesting article though nonetheless. See below.
The Older Audience Is Looking Better Than Ever
By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: April 19, 2009
When Brian Gordon and his partners started ebeanstalk.com, which sells children’s learning toys online, they expected most of business to come from younger consumers starting families. But a recent customer survey found that up to 40 percent were actually older, mainly grandparents.
“If you’d asked me if 4 out of 10 people would be grandparents, I’d have said, ‘No, that’s not going to happen,’ ” Mr. Gordon said.
Also surprising, Mr. Gordon says, is that despite the economy, sales are up about 65 percent so far this year compared with a year earlier. He attributed that largely to older consumers, who “are our most demanding customers” but are more willing than their younger counterparts are to pay full price.
The experience of ebeanstalk.com illustrates a growing trend as the recession grinds on: an increasing interest in marketing goods and services to consumers age 50 and older. Among those aiming more at the older demographic are giants like Chrysler, Kraft Foods, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble and Target.
The interest has also been a boon to media outlets that appeal to older viewers. CBS, home of “60 minutes” and the “CSI” franchise, is first in the network ratings, and while all magazines have had their advertising pages hammered, some titles for more mature readers, including AARP magazine and Family Circle, have suffered smaller downturns.
For decades, older consumers were largely shunned by marketers because they were deemed less wealthy, less likely to try new products and less willing to change brands. Campaigns directed at them were described dismissively as made for the “Geritol generation.” As much as older consumers were to be shunned, young consumers — ages 18 to 34, or 18 to 49 — were desired for what were deemed their free-spending ways, eagerness to sample new products and brand-switching proclivities. The idea that they were starting in life with a proverbial blank slate of marketing wants and needs was catnip to product peddlers.
“When you’re a 27-year-old media supervisor or a 32-year-old brand manager, what do you think the world looks like?” Jerry Shereshewsky, chief executive at Grandparents.com. “You think it looks like you.”
Those attitudes have been changing, for a couple of reasons. One is the recession, which makes older consumers who may have paid off mortgages seem a safer bet than younger ones who may get laid off in last-hired, first-fired downsizings.
“Especially in this economy, with marketers’ budgets under so much stress, they would prefer to spend dollars on today’s sales instead of thinking about establishing brand loyalty,” said Howard Shimmel, senior vice president for media product leadership at the Nielsen Company.
The other reason for the change is demographic. The estimated 78 million people born from 1946 to 1964 — who have long set the agenda for Madison Avenue because of their numbers — are aging. The first boomers are turning 63 this year, and the youngest are turning 45.
“It is a demographic that advertisers should be, and are, paying more attention to,” said Andy Donchin, director for media investments at Carat in New York, an agency of the Aegis Group that buys ad space and time for marketers like Adidas, Alberto-Culver and Pfizer.
Although “18 to 49 is going to remain the predominant buying demographic,” Mr. Donchin said, “this country is aging, and the boomers are an attractive demographic.”
That appeal is because of the size of the boomer market and because, as Mr. Donchin put it, “50 isn’t what it used to be.”
Older consumers today “are not as resistant to change” as older consumers previously may have been, Mr. Donchin said, summarizing their attitude as “Show me something better, and I’ll try it.”
And the boomers are even “comfortable with digital media,” he added.
All this has implications for media, digital or otherwise.
According to a study conducted by Mr. Shimmel of Nielsen and Jess D. Aguirre Jr., senior vice president for research at the Hallmark Channels unit of Hallmark Cards, boomer households account for unexpectedly high percentages of sales of products considered mainstays of younger consumers. That includes beer, 59.7 percent; carbonated beverages, 58.9 percent; and candy, 54.2 percent.
The boomers offer advertisers “an audience — and here’s your quotable quote — that has assets, not allowances,” said Henry Schleiff, president and chief executive at Hallmark Channels, composed of the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel cable TV networks.
“The recession has most conspicuously made advertisers far more focused on the return on their investment and more selective,” Mr. Schleiff said. “For those of us focused on the baby boomer, it’s a good time for us.”
Grandparents.com is planning to release on Monday the results of a study, “The Grandparent Economy,” which predicts that by next year, the highest median income will be among families led by men or women ages 55 to 64. By 2015, the study forecasts, 59 percent of American grandparents will be boomers.
“Someone once told me, ‘You can’t go broke chasing the boom,’ ” said Mr. Shereshewsky of Grandparents.com.
For instance, “grandparents spend about $400 million a year on diapers they inventory at home,” he added. “Not for themselves, for grandchildren who visit them.”
The “mythologies” about older consumers “are certainly out there,” Mr. Shereshewsky acknowledged, and “it’s very hard” to counter them.
“A young lady at a West Coast automotive marketer told me, ‘We never target the 50-year-old market because they don’t have many purchase cycles left to them,’ ” Mr. Shereshewsky said, laughing. “I said to her, ‘Excuse me, I’m not dead yet.’ ”Still, as boomers fill the ranks of older consumers, it may become unnecessary to refute the conventional wisdom. If they continue behaving as they did when they were the Pepsi Generation, beliefs about the upper age brackets may be rendered moot.
“I’m old enough to have experienced TV without remote controls, cable and commercial clutter,” said Mr. Donchin of Carat, “but my mindset and consumption patterns are very different from my parents’ at the same age.”
The changing of the guard among older consumers is even becoming part of the popular culture, he added, citing television shows about “cougars,” older woman who pursue younger men.
Indeed, the TV Land cable channel, which once specialized in vintage sitcoms like “I Love Lucy,” introduced a reality series last week called “The Cougar.”
Would anyone watch if it were called “The Boomer”?
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: April 21, 2009
The Advertising column on Monday, about efforts by marketers to reach older consumers, misspelled the surname of the chief executive of Grandparents.com. He is Jerry Shereshewsky, not Sheveshewsky.
I am intrigued by the author's assumption that boomers aren't working and that they have their mortgages paid off and therefore better financially prepared. This is the audience that's most likely to have been hit the hardest by the economic recession, where what they have saved has been cut in half recently. An interesting article though nonetheless. See below.
The Older Audience Is Looking Better Than Ever
By STUART ELLIOTT
Published: April 19, 2009
When Brian Gordon and his partners started ebeanstalk.com, which sells children’s learning toys online, they expected most of business to come from younger consumers starting families. But a recent customer survey found that up to 40 percent were actually older, mainly grandparents.
“If you’d asked me if 4 out of 10 people would be grandparents, I’d have said, ‘No, that’s not going to happen,’ ” Mr. Gordon said.
Also surprising, Mr. Gordon says, is that despite the economy, sales are up about 65 percent so far this year compared with a year earlier. He attributed that largely to older consumers, who “are our most demanding customers” but are more willing than their younger counterparts are to pay full price.
The experience of ebeanstalk.com illustrates a growing trend as the recession grinds on: an increasing interest in marketing goods and services to consumers age 50 and older. Among those aiming more at the older demographic are giants like Chrysler, Kraft Foods, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble and Target.
The interest has also been a boon to media outlets that appeal to older viewers. CBS, home of “60 minutes” and the “CSI” franchise, is first in the network ratings, and while all magazines have had their advertising pages hammered, some titles for more mature readers, including AARP magazine and Family Circle, have suffered smaller downturns.
For decades, older consumers were largely shunned by marketers because they were deemed less wealthy, less likely to try new products and less willing to change brands. Campaigns directed at them were described dismissively as made for the “Geritol generation.” As much as older consumers were to be shunned, young consumers — ages 18 to 34, or 18 to 49 — were desired for what were deemed their free-spending ways, eagerness to sample new products and brand-switching proclivities. The idea that they were starting in life with a proverbial blank slate of marketing wants and needs was catnip to product peddlers.
“When you’re a 27-year-old media supervisor or a 32-year-old brand manager, what do you think the world looks like?” Jerry Shereshewsky, chief executive at Grandparents.com. “You think it looks like you.”
Those attitudes have been changing, for a couple of reasons. One is the recession, which makes older consumers who may have paid off mortgages seem a safer bet than younger ones who may get laid off in last-hired, first-fired downsizings.
“Especially in this economy, with marketers’ budgets under so much stress, they would prefer to spend dollars on today’s sales instead of thinking about establishing brand loyalty,” said Howard Shimmel, senior vice president for media product leadership at the Nielsen Company.
The other reason for the change is demographic. The estimated 78 million people born from 1946 to 1964 — who have long set the agenda for Madison Avenue because of their numbers — are aging. The first boomers are turning 63 this year, and the youngest are turning 45.
“It is a demographic that advertisers should be, and are, paying more attention to,” said Andy Donchin, director for media investments at Carat in New York, an agency of the Aegis Group that buys ad space and time for marketers like Adidas, Alberto-Culver and Pfizer.
Although “18 to 49 is going to remain the predominant buying demographic,” Mr. Donchin said, “this country is aging, and the boomers are an attractive demographic.”
That appeal is because of the size of the boomer market and because, as Mr. Donchin put it, “50 isn’t what it used to be.”
Older consumers today “are not as resistant to change” as older consumers previously may have been, Mr. Donchin said, summarizing their attitude as “Show me something better, and I’ll try it.”
And the boomers are even “comfortable with digital media,” he added.
All this has implications for media, digital or otherwise.
According to a study conducted by Mr. Shimmel of Nielsen and Jess D. Aguirre Jr., senior vice president for research at the Hallmark Channels unit of Hallmark Cards, boomer households account for unexpectedly high percentages of sales of products considered mainstays of younger consumers. That includes beer, 59.7 percent; carbonated beverages, 58.9 percent; and candy, 54.2 percent.
The boomers offer advertisers “an audience — and here’s your quotable quote — that has assets, not allowances,” said Henry Schleiff, president and chief executive at Hallmark Channels, composed of the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movie Channel cable TV networks.
“The recession has most conspicuously made advertisers far more focused on the return on their investment and more selective,” Mr. Schleiff said. “For those of us focused on the baby boomer, it’s a good time for us.”
Grandparents.com is planning to release on Monday the results of a study, “The Grandparent Economy,” which predicts that by next year, the highest median income will be among families led by men or women ages 55 to 64. By 2015, the study forecasts, 59 percent of American grandparents will be boomers.
“Someone once told me, ‘You can’t go broke chasing the boom,’ ” said Mr. Shereshewsky of Grandparents.com.
For instance, “grandparents spend about $400 million a year on diapers they inventory at home,” he added. “Not for themselves, for grandchildren who visit them.”
The “mythologies” about older consumers “are certainly out there,” Mr. Shereshewsky acknowledged, and “it’s very hard” to counter them.
“A young lady at a West Coast automotive marketer told me, ‘We never target the 50-year-old market because they don’t have many purchase cycles left to them,’ ” Mr. Shereshewsky said, laughing. “I said to her, ‘Excuse me, I’m not dead yet.’ ”Still, as boomers fill the ranks of older consumers, it may become unnecessary to refute the conventional wisdom. If they continue behaving as they did when they were the Pepsi Generation, beliefs about the upper age brackets may be rendered moot.
“I’m old enough to have experienced TV without remote controls, cable and commercial clutter,” said Mr. Donchin of Carat, “but my mindset and consumption patterns are very different from my parents’ at the same age.”
The changing of the guard among older consumers is even becoming part of the popular culture, he added, citing television shows about “cougars,” older woman who pursue younger men.
Indeed, the TV Land cable channel, which once specialized in vintage sitcoms like “I Love Lucy,” introduced a reality series last week called “The Cougar.”
Would anyone watch if it were called “The Boomer”?
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: April 21, 2009
The Advertising column on Monday, about efforts by marketers to reach older consumers, misspelled the surname of the chief executive of Grandparents.com. He is Jerry Shereshewsky, not Sheveshewsky.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Viral Marketing: Celebrity Apprentice
I'm a sucker for The Celebrity Apprentice on Sunday nights - just love to see Joan Rivers duking it out with someone. She's one of those people who always comes up with the perfect comeback every time! There are a couple of people on this season that I think are crush=worthy. Joan Rivers? Think of her what you will, but she's brash, ballsy and always has the perfect comeback (you know the one that you wish you'd though of). Jesse James? Just a perfect, down-to-earth guy who's unassuming and a lot smarter than people probably give him credit for. Anyway, this week, the teams were supposed to create a viral marketing video for All Laundry detergent. Jesse's team created a funny (albeit slightly weird) video that featured Jesse getting the 'scrub-down' by three little people dressed up to look like All Laundry detergent bottles. Cute, but the ended it up taking a little too far when the little people stormed off the 'stage'. Joan's team created a video that featured Clint Black and a racy bikini model and sort of suggested that Clint didn't need his sexy super model - he had his little bottle of All to help him 'do the dirty laundry' himself.
Long story short - neither team 'won' the viral marketing video challenge. But, the real winner of course was All who probably got more out of the show than they ever would have dreamed possible. They've created new videos which you can see for yourself at www.All-Laundry.com featuring Joan and Melissa Rivers.
But the real point of this is that once again Donald's done something to make him just a little more crushworthy. Everyone knows that it's so damn hard to create a viral video. There's got to be a blend of surprise, humor and something that's just going to make you want to send it on to friends. And this episode depicted the marketers dilemma perfectly. My favorite example of viral marketing was posted about here.. What's your favorite viral marketing campaign?
The Donald's crushworthy... are you? If so, tell us about it!
Not? Or just not yet? Contact us, we can help.
Long story short - neither team 'won' the viral marketing video challenge. But, the real winner of course was All who probably got more out of the show than they ever would have dreamed possible. They've created new videos which you can see for yourself at www.All-Laundry.com featuring Joan and Melissa Rivers.
But the real point of this is that once again Donald's done something to make him just a little more crushworthy. Everyone knows that it's so damn hard to create a viral video. There's got to be a blend of surprise, humor and something that's just going to make you want to send it on to friends. And this episode depicted the marketers dilemma perfectly. My favorite example of viral marketing was posted about here.. What's your favorite viral marketing campaign?
The Donald's crushworthy... are you? If so, tell us about it!
Not? Or just not yet? Contact us, we can help.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Facebook Plots Major Redesign
We're huge fans of Facebook and its potential application in business. Facebook is now looking to make some significant changes to the way businesses interact with their 'fans'. So instead of a business having a static page on Facebook, they'll be required to publish status updates, post regularly, etc. It will be interesting to see how (or if) this impacts how businesses will use Twitter in the future. See article below published in BrandWeek.
Facebook Plots Major Redesign
March 4, 2009
-By Mike Shields, Mediaweek
Facebook is planning to unveil a sweeping redesign on March 11 of both its home page and its branded partner pages, changes that may require publishers and advertisers to take a more active role in communicating to users via the popular site.
In a conference call with reporters today, the company announced it has signed more than a dozen partners to test a new version of its public branded pages, including President Obama, The New York Times, the National Basketball Assn. and the band U2. Going forward, these partners' pages will be designed to better resemble the average person's Facebook profile rather than serving as static destinations where users can look up basic information. According to Chris Cox, Facebook's director of product, the idea will be for these companies and officials to become more active publishers, frequently broadcasting messages in real time like so many Facebook users do.
In addition, bloggers and small publishers can now use Facebook as a platform to publish content to an unlimited number of friends/readers. Previously, Facebook users were limited to 5,000 friends.
These changes in approach are a recognition of an overall shift in the way people use Facebook, which in the past few years has evolved into a live communication vehicle where users regularly update their statuses, rather than the Web's version of a phonebook. "From who you are to what are you doing," said Cox.
The revamped home page will reflect that reality, as the three-year-old News Feed product will now become the site's centerpiece, showcasing an ever-changing list of text, photo and video messages posted by users, publishers and advertisers.
Facebook users will now be able to group all of their various friends in several preset categories, such as close friends, co-workers and family -- and also far more easily control how often they receive status updates from whom. "You control who is in your stream," said Cox. "That's something users have been asking for a lot."
In addition, while News Feed will now focus solely on real-time status updates, a secondary feed called Highlights will report on various actions take by a user's friends on the site, such as Mike joined the group X.
Under the new format brands and publishers' messages will also be published via The Stream. Thus, advertisers that in the past have simply maintained fan pages might need to become more active to get noticed on Facebook.
With the focus on the site's much guarded and debated user experience, advertising was barely mentioned during Wednesday's call.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented that Facebook's new design should help increase user engagement, which should appeal to brands. "The concept of being connected to someone has a lot of value," he said.
Facebook Plots Major Redesign
March 4, 2009
-By Mike Shields, Mediaweek
Facebook is planning to unveil a sweeping redesign on March 11 of both its home page and its branded partner pages, changes that may require publishers and advertisers to take a more active role in communicating to users via the popular site.
In a conference call with reporters today, the company announced it has signed more than a dozen partners to test a new version of its public branded pages, including President Obama, The New York Times, the National Basketball Assn. and the band U2. Going forward, these partners' pages will be designed to better resemble the average person's Facebook profile rather than serving as static destinations where users can look up basic information. According to Chris Cox, Facebook's director of product, the idea will be for these companies and officials to become more active publishers, frequently broadcasting messages in real time like so many Facebook users do.
In addition, bloggers and small publishers can now use Facebook as a platform to publish content to an unlimited number of friends/readers. Previously, Facebook users were limited to 5,000 friends.
These changes in approach are a recognition of an overall shift in the way people use Facebook, which in the past few years has evolved into a live communication vehicle where users regularly update their statuses, rather than the Web's version of a phonebook. "From who you are to what are you doing," said Cox.
The revamped home page will reflect that reality, as the three-year-old News Feed product will now become the site's centerpiece, showcasing an ever-changing list of text, photo and video messages posted by users, publishers and advertisers.
Facebook users will now be able to group all of their various friends in several preset categories, such as close friends, co-workers and family -- and also far more easily control how often they receive status updates from whom. "You control who is in your stream," said Cox. "That's something users have been asking for a lot."
In addition, while News Feed will now focus solely on real-time status updates, a secondary feed called Highlights will report on various actions take by a user's friends on the site, such as Mike joined the group X.
Under the new format brands and publishers' messages will also be published via The Stream. Thus, advertisers that in the past have simply maintained fan pages might need to become more active to get noticed on Facebook.
With the focus on the site's much guarded and debated user experience, advertising was barely mentioned during Wednesday's call.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented that Facebook's new design should help increase user engagement, which should appeal to brands. "The concept of being connected to someone has a lot of value," he said.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Crushing on Clif!
You may have seen Clif Bars in your grocery story or at your local health food store. Clif Bar makes Clif, Clif Nectar, Luna, Clif Blocks, Clif Shots and now Organic Z Bars (Clif for Kids). But Clif isn't just about whole grain goodness, they've got soul - and a story to tell. The company is one of those home grown success stories. A guy in his garage wanted to make a better mousetrap - or in this case - a better energy bar to fuel his 175-mile bike rides. That desire led founder Gary Erickson to create not only the Clif Bar, but a company built on 5 key aspirations:- Sustaining our Planet
- Sustaining our Community
- Sustaining our People
- Sustaining our Business
- Sustaining our Brands
Along the way, Clif Bar was named one the nation's fastest-growing private companies from 1997-2000 by Inc Magazine. It's been nominated as one of the Healthiest Workplaces for Women (Health Magazine, 1993). They been given awards for doing business right - from The Greenies to the California Climate Action Champion Award. Gary himself has been presented with awards for innovation and was named one of the best bosses in America (Fortune Small Business Magazine, 2003).
Sure, I love a little whole grain goodness just as much as the next gal, but what I really love about Clif is their spirit and the fact that they've remained true to what they believe in from the start.
Read more about Clif in one of my recommended reads, Small Giants: Companies that Choose to Be Great Instead of Big
When is it a good time to change your campaign?
The question of the ages, right? You spend months developing a new campaign - advertising, online, packaging... And then you spend another few months and another round of $$ testing it with your customers. You work and tweak and re-write and finally it's ready and you launch. Ta-da!
Your new campaign comes out in the magazines, shows up on the tele, the new package arrives on the shelf. It's new, it's gorgeous, it's so 'of the times', steeped in customer insights, filling an unmet need in their lives, providing a solution to a problem that they didn't even know that they had. It's gorgeous and you love it.
Until, perhaps, you don't love it anymore, or a new product manager has climbed on board, or sales have started to lag, or a new competitor has entered into the market, or customers are changing their habits. So what do you do? How do you know when to change the campaign? Is there ever a right time? A metric?
Unfortunately, the answer is never crystal clear about when the time is right and testing is only going to get you so far. There are two cases that have gotten a lot of press lately - Tropicana and their new package design and the Motrin ads that Moms shunned. For Tropicana, the last year has been a bit crazy.
According to Tropicana president, Neil Campbell, "the entire orange juice category was in decline". Over the last several years, people have been swapping out their juice in favor of Starbucks lattes, new flavored waters, even sodas (remember the Coke in the Morning campaign?). And, unlike what the California Milk Processor board did with the Got Milk campaign, not too much is being done on a National level (by say the Orange Grower's Association) to re-invigorate the category.
So, Tropicana took it into their own hands to try and re-create orange juice as a breakfast hero full of natural goodness to help you start your day with a squeeze.
The launch of the new packaging designs caused quite a stir with everyone and their brother writing in on the subject.
BrandWeek: Tropicana Squeezes Out Fresh Design with a Peel
Church of Customer: The Tropicana Effect
Food Navigator: Twitter could leave bitter taste in Pepsi's mouth
Noah Brier posts: Why Did Tropicana Redesign?
New York Times: Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging
Loyal Tropicanistas were furious over the new packaging saying that it was "ugly" and "generic". Those loyal users took to writing, calling and emailing in their complaints. And, fortunately for Pepsi, Neil listened. And, not only did he listen, but for those of us quickly passing through the dairy aisle, we won't need to search for the Tropicana much longer. We can pick it out easily again, grabbing that familiar orange with the straw just piercing the thick skin.
Go ahead and give that a squeeze.
Your new campaign comes out in the magazines, shows up on the tele, the new package arrives on the shelf. It's new, it's gorgeous, it's so 'of the times', steeped in customer insights, filling an unmet need in their lives, providing a solution to a problem that they didn't even know that they had. It's gorgeous and you love it. Until, perhaps, you don't love it anymore, or a new product manager has climbed on board, or sales have started to lag, or a new competitor has entered into the market, or customers are changing their habits. So what do you do? How do you know when to change the campaign? Is there ever a right time? A metric?
Unfortunately, the answer is never crystal clear about when the time is right and testing is only going to get you so far. There are two cases that have gotten a lot of press lately - Tropicana and their new package design and the Motrin ads that Moms shunned. For Tropicana, the last year has been a bit crazy.
According to Tropicana president, Neil Campbell, "the entire orange juice category was in decline". Over the last several years, people have been swapping out their juice in favor of Starbucks lattes, new flavored waters, even sodas (remember the Coke in the Morning campaign?). And, unlike what the California Milk Processor board did with the Got Milk campaign, not too much is being done on a National level (by say the Orange Grower's Association) to re-invigorate the category.
So, Tropicana took it into their own hands to try and re-create orange juice as a breakfast hero full of natural goodness to help you start your day with a squeeze.
The launch of the new packaging designs caused quite a stir with everyone and their brother writing in on the subject.
BrandWeek: Tropicana Squeezes Out Fresh Design with a Peel
Church of Customer: The Tropicana Effect
Food Navigator: Twitter could leave bitter taste in Pepsi's mouth
Noah Brier posts: Why Did Tropicana Redesign?
New York Times: Tropicana Discovers Some Buyers Are Passionate About Packaging
Loyal Tropicanistas were furious over the new packaging saying that it was "ugly" and "generic". Those loyal users took to writing, calling and emailing in their complaints. And, fortunately for Pepsi, Neil listened. And, not only did he listen, but for those of us quickly passing through the dairy aisle, we won't need to search for the Tropicana much longer. We can pick it out easily again, grabbing that familiar orange with the straw just piercing the thick skin.Go ahead and give that a squeeze.
Perfect example of viral marketing - the TMobile Dance
Okay, so I'll admit, I actually got this emailed to me from my mother. Love mom, but she's not the most technically savvy lady and frankly, if she's forwarding something to me, it's quite likely that I've seen it before.
But, I've never seen this great TMobile ad and I had to find out more.
The ad was filmed in the Liverpool Street Tube Station in London on January 15th, 2009 at 11:00a (during rush hour). It took 8 weeks to plan. Over 10,000 dancers auditioned for the part and only 400 made it. There were 8 tracks of music including: The Twist, Shout and Don't Cha. There were 10 cameras hidden in the station to capture the dancers and the reactions from the random passerbys in the station. Within 24 hours the crew went from the Event to Broadcast - and they didn't even know if it was possible.
The video has been viewed over 5M times on YouTube.
The thing about this video and one of the reasons why the campaign has been so successful is due to the enthusiasm of the dancers and how that infectious enthusiasm transfers to the viewing audience. In a back stage moment the producers and directors commented that "most exciting thing is the number of people involved", "that energy was phenomenal", "look at these people joining in". You watch and you can't help but smile! Look at the little old ladies dancing, check out the guy with the 'fro!
The crew also interviewed those random passerbys who said that 'participating' in the event made their day. "It's going to make me laugh all day", "Made me feel a moment of love, for 5 minutes everyone was relaxed and happy", "I'm in a good mood now", "It put a smile on my face". "I wish every day was like this."
That's the feeling that makes for a good viral campaign - people sharing unexpected and fun stuff that doesn't feel like advertising at all.
But, I've never seen this great TMobile ad and I had to find out more.
The ad was filmed in the Liverpool Street Tube Station in London on January 15th, 2009 at 11:00a (during rush hour). It took 8 weeks to plan. Over 10,000 dancers auditioned for the part and only 400 made it. There were 8 tracks of music including: The Twist, Shout and Don't Cha. There were 10 cameras hidden in the station to capture the dancers and the reactions from the random passerbys in the station. Within 24 hours the crew went from the Event to Broadcast - and they didn't even know if it was possible.
The video has been viewed over 5M times on YouTube.
The thing about this video and one of the reasons why the campaign has been so successful is due to the enthusiasm of the dancers and how that infectious enthusiasm transfers to the viewing audience. In a back stage moment the producers and directors commented that "most exciting thing is the number of people involved", "that energy was phenomenal", "look at these people joining in". You watch and you can't help but smile! Look at the little old ladies dancing, check out the guy with the 'fro!
The crew also interviewed those random passerbys who said that 'participating' in the event made their day. "It's going to make me laugh all day", "Made me feel a moment of love, for 5 minutes everyone was relaxed and happy", "I'm in a good mood now", "It put a smile on my face". "I wish every day was like this."
That's the feeling that makes for a good viral campaign - people sharing unexpected and fun stuff that doesn't feel like advertising at all.
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