I have been reading a lot lately on what companies are trying to do break through and get some marketing attention. Does banner blindness increase in times of economic strife? I have no research data to prove my theory, but my hunch is yes. Why yes you ask? Well most people in economic turmoil do not want to be reminded of what they can no longer afford. Sure they may have been able to afford purchases before in the good times when credit was flowing but now it's not so simple. So my guess is that banners are not as effective because folks are now just focusing on all the free content and searching for a bit of good news in these gloomy days. It is the same reason the malls are now half empty and Macy's is closing 11 stores this year alone. Why depress yourself with the inability to apply consumer therapy by going to the mall or similarly clicking on a banner to a microsite that gives you generally the same feeling.
So we have established the fact that the regular way of advertising is ok and no one is saying abandoned ship just yet but there are a lot of brands struggling for that break out campaign right now. Those successful campaigns also usually take a fair bit of cash to produce and promote and last I checked there wasn't much of that good old marketing cash lying around.
In today's post I will discuss the viral approach. Not the whole gamut of viral, but two specific styles. The first one I call "deep cycle" that involves a slow yet powerful positioning of your brand. One that leaves a long lasting positive message that will ,if executed correctly, have long lasting residual effects once the recession is over. The second one I call "short cycle" that involves a shorter but much louder approach that is more in the present. One that is intended to drive awareness for sales in this quarter but not necessarily long term brand lift.
Exhibit A is Honda's new "Documentary" style campaign called "Dream the Impossible". It is hosted on a Honda branded Youtube page and in episode 1 "Failure: The Secret to Success" [Watch clip before proceeding - 8:19min] chronicles Honda's disastrous entry into supplying motors for indycar racing back in mid 90's. The documentary is very solemn in tone and opens up with a series of nicely shot vignettes of Honda employees re-living the nightmarish tale of woe in question over a ominous piano track. It's not a new style of film making but well done and you are pulled in quite quickly with the personal stories of failure. This is a great hook because everyone regardless of ego has fears of failure either in the future or the scars of failures past. It is something that emotionally pulls us into the film. It's an interesting approach because from what I can tell Honda is not trying to shed a failure image but rather discuss why there are successful at building motors today. If Chrysler or GM had made this it would be a film about apology and apathy, not success. Even if either one of those two companies wanted to make this film, Honda has now taken that opportunity and turned it on it's head in the process. This film is clearly about success and presented in a way that suits the somber mood of the current climate.
So why take this approach? Honda has some spend money here by the looks of things and campaign branded Youtube site indicates there are more films in the works. The views are only at 20,347 for just over two weeks and that really is nothing to get excited about. Are they mad, is this campaign a failure? No it is just a beginning and I think and the plan is to take the slow and deep cycle approach over more that one quarter. The Japanese are great at the long, slow and very successful marketing approaches [see the 80’s decade if you need a reminder]. They are building a slow deep wave of positive brand experiences that will overtime build up trust in the brand and a take away message that Honda “does things differently”. Honda smells blood with the US auto makers and are planning laying out the ground work for when the recession is over. They know, like Kellogg's did in the great depression, that if you advertise and market yourself correctly in economic hard times that your brand can win out in the end. Kellogg's advertised hard in the great depression when there were really no standout leaders in cereal business. In fact there were over 60 competitors going into the depression and only a handful one coming out. I believe that this viral documentary series is part of a global initiative to put the US auto makers out of their misery once and for all. Hell Toyota for the first time surpassed GM in global sales and with Honda being the second largest Japanese auto maker it's no wonder they are going for it.
Will it work? That I don't know, but it does come across as authentic and that is important. Only time will see and seeing that is is a deep cycle viral campaign time is what will be required for the final word.
Exhibit B The "T-Mobile Dance" is another viral piece that is a full on attention getting video that was last weeks viral darling. It made the worldwide news and social media headlines and has already had 2,204,122 [Watch clip before proceeding - 2:41min] Youtube views alone. Wow that's great and I would say that the short term campaign KPI's have probably been met. It's a charming video that is supposed to make you feel good in times of doom and gloom. The performance looks to be performed or 'inspired' by the Improv Everywhere Group that did the Grand Central Station Freeze last year. It's very polished and well done. The scene is set to make you almost say out loud "Man I wish I could have been there" As far as virals go it fits into the "I can't believe what I am seeing” category and that does work well as a contagious aspect for any viral video.
I like both videos for very different reasons but feel that the Honda one will prevail in it’s long term goals. The T-mobile video feels more like a gimmick that will not have as much of long lasting impact on the brand.
What are your plans for viral campaigns this year? I know that they are very much on the radar this year because that is really what most new clients are inquiring about. Oh that and Twitter of course.
