While you eagerly await my race report from today's P.F. Chang Arizona Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, let's take a commercial break. (...and while you read, "Why not enjoy a nice glass of cold milk?" says my friend the cow whom I met at the Fitness Expo yesterday.)
As many of you know, marketing isn't just my job, it's an adventure! I'm always on the lookout for things companies are doing right and wrong as they look to reach into buyers' psyches and wallets.
Take Apple, for example. Some might argue that I'd buy anything my BFF Steve Jobs put out there. They might also say that Apple gets a lot of press, and that's how I find out about products and then buy them. However, I say it's the right messages in a variety of forms in concert that engage me and make me plunk my credit card down (or type in the digits online). Yes, Apple's press is a factor. But it's also their billboard ad outside my office that has a design aesthetic that appeals to me. Or their TV ads with people donning and doffing clothing with that little Shuffle on each layer. (That's what put me over the edge and I had to have one.) Or the one-two punch of the Mac vs. PC ads that also ran online (Oh there's that funny ad again here on my favorite website!).
Others say that ads are in jeopardy with the advent of DVRs. I could be wrong, but I'm of the school that thinks great ads get noticed, period. Those Apple ads, or the VW "Safe Happens" ads, or the terrific HP ad featuring Jay-Z...I didn't miss any of those, and I've talked about them with friends who have DVRs and didn't miss them either. If the ads are good enough, people will want to see them and talk about them (and vice versa, btw...you don't want to be the one who hasn't seen the ad everyone's talking about). Two ways to remedy this situation: hire the best creatives you can find...and make sure your media plan includes the Web (natch).
Now let's look at CLIF Bar. I'd been a huge fan of their Crunchy Peanut Butter bars for years when I went to the Danskin Tri in Austin in '05. At the CLIF's Expo booth at that race, they were giving out samples of their new Builder's Bars. After one sample I was hooked, and have bought HUNDREDS of those bars since (and not at the expense of Crunchy Peanut Butter either. Incremental purchases, people!). I also recently read the founder's terrific book, Raising the Bar, in which he talks about how he took the company from a two-person operation to the multimillion dollar success it is today. One of the keys to that success is innovation, and he cited the Mojo Bar as one of their latest. So imagine my surprise that they were not offering samples of the Mojo at the Arizona Expo yesterday. In fact, they were only giving out their original bars. Seems like they missed a golden opportunity to get me (and thousands of others in their target market) hooked on yet another one of their products.
They would have been smart to do so, because Kellogg's is hot on their heels. Only a few aisles away, they were sampling their new energy bars, in chocolate, strawberry and peanut butter flavors. As I approach their booth, I'm remembering that their TV and print campaigns. I'd also just had a bowl of their cereal earlier this week and really enjoyed it. So now that I've tried their new bar and liked it, will I actually buy? Only time will tell, but if I do, it can be attributed to all of these touchpoints.
What about you? Think you're immune to marketing? Or have you been hooked too?
Comments