Now that Valentine’s Day has passed I can say it: Bah Humbug. (Sorry, wrong holiday, but Valentine’s Day is as much about romance as it is about heartbreak for many). Read more
Dr. Pepper recently introduced a new 10-calorie version of its diet drink, aimed at men. The soda can features rivets. I know. They’re not real, but still.
The company launched a Facebook app for men, called “The Ten Man-ments,” is advertising during college football games, trying to capture the man who wants a diet drink but doesn’t want to really admit that to anyone. The tagline? “It’s not for women.”
Not surprisingly, the campaign has backfired. According to Wavemetrix, it’s generating lots of negative attention. Men say they’re okay with the positioning but agree it’s offensive and women have taken to the social media channels saying they’ll take their diet drink business elsewhere.
See the video here:
The Dr. Pepper people say that the campaign is supposed to be a joke. But no one seems to be getting it. What happened?
The difference between how Venus and Mars behave let marketers tell a compelling story.(rivets?). Conflict is at the heart of great storytelling. But brands can risk taking that conflict too far.
But what’s interesting here is how the Dr. Pepper marketing people covered their bases when talking about new soda to the press. They said that 40% of people who tried and approved of the diet drink in six test markets were women. So who is the brand really aimed at, anyway?
Well, everyone, it seems, and perhaps that’s the intention. A campaign that’s skewed to be provocative can benefit from a public relations campaign to tell the story to all possible audiences, with a wink and a nod to the targeted core. If Dr. Pepper 10 doesn’t go by the way of New Coke, I can see a phase two campaign where women bloggers are invited to an immersion in the 10-calorie Dr. Pepper experience, follow the “The Man-ments” for a month – and chart their experiences with it on their blogs. Maybe the brand sponsors a Top-Chef quick-fire that pits the guys against the gals to come up with the healthiest dish using the soda that will appeal to a duo of 10-calorie Dr. Pepper tasters (man and woman). You follow?
Oh, and for the record, I think the ad is funny. It shows men being so stupid that I, for one, can’t possibly take it seriously. Will that turn me into a Dr. Pepper 10 drinker? I don’t think so, the brand told me that it doesn’t want me, in no uncertain terms.
Company B Client in the News: Sherry Orel of Brand Connections, Success Means More, More, More Mobile, AdAge
As more and more brands align themselves with causes, it’s important to do it right. To achieve success, brands need to do more than simply place a logo on a package or ad.
Sherry Orel, CEO of Brand Connections, explains how companies should be taking social media, mobile and digital consumer behavior into consideration in their cause-marketing strategies.
Read this article in the “Causes” section of Media Post. Do you agree with her insights?
At first, I was delighted when I read about the upcoming visit of an augmented reality Jolly Green giant to Grand Central Terminal. He’ll be there on Tuesday afternoon week to high five or fist-bump kids who take a pledge to “eat one more vegetable per day for 30 days.” Read more
Driving through Central Park this weekend, I saw four tourists walking single file along the car-clogged road that connects West 96th Street to the Upper East Side. They were hiking on the edge of the street. Central Park was hidden from them – and from traffic — by a high wall.
With the beautiful park only steps away, I figured those folks got some pretty bad advice for how to cross the park. They looked hot and unhappy. They probably were hot and unhappy. That dirty trek may well be what they will remember most about their trip to New York.
Which got me thinking about how to frame a marketing campaign to appeal to the tourists for your brand. You know, the ones who think they might like you but are just checking you out? What does a tourist need to really fall in love with you?
Photo Credit: The New York Times
When building a marketing campaign, I’d say that 1-4 are the cost of entry. Brands need to be clear about who they are, be easy to get access to, feel like a personal friend, be fresh and relevant. But what is often overlooked is that element of wow and, even more difficult, personal discovery that feels unique to them.
Whether it’s a special offer for Facebook fans only, a free you-name-it (coffee, flower bouquet, waltz-lessons on 42nd Street) when you least expect it, a billboard in Times Square with your photo on it, what can you create for your brand tourists to discover that’s so unexpected, they’ll think they discovered it themselves?
What’s your story?