Will Being Funny or Sentimental Drive Sales?

I recently attended a seminar about direct mail marketing, and was shown a video about a really cool mail piece this company had done that integrated mail, QR codes and your smartphone. It certainly was an interesting and unique piece, but when the video was done, I had no idea what the company was or what the product being sold was.

That got me thinking – you could have the coolest or funniest or most unique commercial or mail piece, but will it actually drive sales? Because in the end that’s the goal with you marketing – to get sales and make money.

Watching that video made me think of this Proctor and Gamble ad that ran during the past winter Olympics. It was a really emotional ad that showed mothers with their kids, helping them along as they train in their chosen sport, eventually becoming Olympians.  The message was “thank you mom.” It was pretty sweet.

But does this ad actually make you want to go out and buy any of P&G’s products? I understand the importance of branding and I guess this ad is supposed to make us “feel” a certain way towards the P&G brand, which in theory would translate to sales. But when it comes down to it, I’m not going to buy their products because of this commercial. It got me a little choked up I’ll admit, but when I’m in the store looking for toothpaste, I’m not sure that I’ll remember this commercial because there was no toothpaste in it. Or really any product for that matter. Perhaps it would have been more effective if P&G products could have subtly been included: the mom washing the hockey uniform with a Tide bottle in the background or something like that.

Did this ad make you want to buy toothpaste?

Maybe this does work on some people. Maybe you will remember that good feeling you got watching this commercial when you’re in the grocery store, and reach for the P&G product over someone else. But I have to question the actual effectiveness of an ad when a) we don’t know what the product is or b) there is no product in the ad. Are we being cool just for the sake of being cool?

I can’t answer the question ‘is this ad effective or successful?’ Effectiveness of ads like these would need to be measured by looking at things like sales numbers or traffic to a website. It really all depends on what their goals were with this ad.

But it’s some food for thought when you’re creating an ad concept – how will you define effectiveness?

Marketing by association – is it a good thing?

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But in terms of marketing, is imitation really a smart move? Is it brilliant, or is it cheating?

It’s all very easy to jump on the bandwagon, and create a product similar to one by another brand or company that already had a lot of traction. Just look at the coffee industry. In 2013, Starbucks’ pumpkin spice latte celebrated its 10^th anniversary. Now, Tim Hortons or McDonald’s may have carried such drinks before (I can’t be certain) but in that same year I had never seen more advertising for pumpkin spice flavoured lattes from those two restaurants. And it makes sense really: the PSL is one of Starbucks’ most popular drinks, so why wouldn’t the competition make their own version to try and grab more of the flavoured latte market share. And a cheaper latte to boot.

Some may argue that other coffee shops are just ripping off the Starbucks brand that for the past 10 years has grown to be quintessential part of the Thanksgiving/winter holidays.  But Starbucks doesn’t own the rights to lattes. Nor should they. If they’re providing a product that the public loves and is in demand, why wouldn’t restaurants with a similar product offering (like Tim Hortons) want their own share of the pie.

Let’s be honest, just because your product has the same name, it doesn’t mean it is the same. People may try it, but it has to be great (or just as good as Starbucks) for customers to keep coming back.

Can imitation go too far? Canada Goose Down would say yes. In November of 2013 they launched a trademark-infringement lawsuit against Sears, who had launched their own brand of down-filled winter jackets with fur on the hood and a white patch on the sleeve. The jackets certainly looked similar, but the Sears one was half the price. I’m sure the brand association worked on a lot of people – it worked on me. My husband and I bought two of the Sears jackets for less than one Canada Goose Down. And they’re great coats.

Now, Sears may have a problem with trademark, but that’s for the courts to decide. I don’t believe it’s good or moral business practice to outright copy someone else exactly. That’s something you have to be careful of. Seeing an opportunity to grab some market share is one thing. Slapping the name pumpkin spice latte on a bland coffee isn’t going to help anyone.

What’s important is having your own product offer something unique from your competitor – let it stand on its own legs. This could be a different price point or a different level of quality. Then you’re not just a copycat, but someone with a great alternative to offer consumers.