Note: Since I wrote the piece below the video referenced has been removed from YouTube.
I’ve been posting a lot recently about both the value of creating memorability and of knowing how to reach and speak to your target audience — two key principles that are ageless and will always be critical to the success of any advertising campaigns, regardless of their objectives.
Dos Equis has succeeded in implementing both these principles in its “The Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign. The beer giant understands that much of today’s buying power resides within the “Baby Boomers” group — and its “Most Interesting Man” campaign speaks to both women and men of that generation — women who’d like to meet the “most interesting man” and men who would like to be him.
You know a campaign is memorable when others spoof and/or want to capitalize on it as YouTube has done with its subscription campaign mirroring “The Most Interesting Man” campaign. Enjoy “The Most Interesting Puppet in the World”, if you haven’t already seen it, and “Stay Thirsty, My Friends”.
An organization that knows how to create memorability related to both its brand and its marketing activities is going to give itself an immediate leg up against its competitors. You’ve all probably heard the expression that “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” because it creates brand awareness, which then may prompt sales or revenue growth. I’m not so sure I agree that it’s a good idea to create memorability through strictly negative associations or activities, but I do believe is that if you can create something memorable that’s positive about your brand and/or in your advertising, your organization is likely to benefit from a brand awareness perspective, at a minimum.
A couple of well-known and simple ways of creating memorability related to both your advertising and your brand are with a jingle, a mascot, or both. I was reminded of this at last week’s Braintree Relay for Life event, sponsored by Frito Lay, and attended by their furry tiger mascot, “Chester Cheetah”, who is highly associated with Frito Lay’s Cheetos snacks. He was one of the major attractions at the event for children of all ages, including me!
My last employer, BMC HealthNet Plan, has employed a mascot for years, “Sunny” (a big sun character who wears big black sunglasses) , to create good will and brand awareness. Sunny has attended literally thousands of community events and children and adults alike flock to him.
As far as jingles go, we all must admit that there are certain ones that we find appealing and that just stick with us. We find ourselves humming or singing them in the shower or in the car or they run through our heads while we lie in bed at night — and I don’t mean songs recorded by artists that are used as advertising background music — I mean jingles that were created to be used repeatedly in conjunction with a brand’s advertising for many years, or just for a particular marketing campaign of a brand. Here’s one of my favorites.
In addition to mascots and jingles that can be associated with a brand for years and years and continue to contribute to the brand’s success, another means of creating brand or marketing campaign memorability is through messaging and visuals/creative that evoke emotion. And, it’s actually a good thing if a brand or its marketing tugs at your heartstrings a bit, as long as there is an accompanying positive message. For example, an advertising campaign can focus on a personal challenge or societal problem, but then offer an inspirational solution or show non-stoppable people rising above that challenge or helping those less-fortunate.
So remember, mascots, jingles, and emotional messages/creative that show something positive rising out of tough circumstances, can all create memorability for a brand or the particular products, programs, or services it promotes. Despite the fact that lately it would appear that human beings just want to hide behind their hand-held devices and not interact with others, songs, likable and cute creatures, and emotional, but inspiring messages, all provide individuals with an opportunity to connect. And, that’s probably even more valued now by consumers than it ever was.
Note: Since I wrote the piece below the video referenced has been removed from YouTube.
When creating new branding — whether it’s updating and refreshing an existing brand or a brand-new brand 🙂 — marketeers are always faced with the question that has plagued generations of marketing professionals: whether or not to incorporate a tagline in an organization’s branding.
As with all life decisions and activities, there are pros and cons to incorporating a tagline. I have zero doubt that Nike would enjoy the strong reputation and revenues it has achieved without its “Just Do It” tagline. Who wouldn’t be inspired by or motivated to purchase a product associated with that message? When I had to choose a company’s advertising to analyze in graduate school, I chose Nike because I found their messaging so likable and upbeat. How can you not like their ad messages and taglines that encourage everyone to be their best — regardless of their life status, their age, their gender, their athletic capabilities, or their love or skills for one sport over another?
I just listened to a video about why the ad agency that came up with Nike’s tagline — and yes, it’s so powerful and timeless that it has now been in use for more than 25 years — and the gentleman who generated the phrase and proposed it for Nike’s advertising suggested it because he saw the power of it being able to unite a variety of proposed ads addressing diverse sports interests. Nike is probably one of the best representatives for a big “pro” of including taglines in branding. A memorable and moving tagline can support interest in and pull together diverse program and product lines and provoke immediate recognition of and positive emotion toward an advertiser.
On the “con” sign, the biggest challenge with a tagline, particularly if it’s part of a logo and/or associated with your larger corporate brand/identity versus an individual program or product is that it can weigh you down sometimes if it’s too limiting and really doesn’t apply to all your programs or services, if it doesn’t make sense to your target audience, or if target audiences simply don’t like or agree with it. I think we’ve all read some taglines and said “what?” to ourselves. Those responsible for creating taglines need to be sure to think objectively and even consider testing their proposed tagline on their target audience to ensure effectiveness and appropriateness.
And, that leads me to Results’ tagline. You’ll see I haven’t incorporated it officially into my branding or logo. As a new business, I’m still getting the “bugs” out of mine, and it varies slightly when I need to give my elevator pitch unexpectedly. But, it goes something like this — “maximizing results through research-supported marketing activities”. Yeah, it’s long, but I do believe it’s truly reflects Results’ philosophy that research should be conducted and/or considered before marketing implementing activities, and without a doubt, conducted during and after the activity is occurring. Learn more here.
You’ll see I love Jimmy Dean’s “Shine On” tagline and have included that in my “About Us” message because I find that tagline to be inspirational and believe others to do.
Not so much for a marketing decision or education purpose, but more just to inspire yourself today and in future days to step outside your comfort zone, take a few minutes to watch this Nike ad video. Just Do It.
