Two of the most popular ads which ran during last week’s Super Bowl did an excellent job targeting their market. The Paul Harvey-voiced ad dedicated to farmers caught the attention of every farm family that was watching. Being two minutes long, the commercial took plenty of time to make the impression that the advertiser wanted. By the middle of the commercial, I’m certain the target market was riveted. Paul Harvey’s voice was very distinctive and commanded attention. Since his program often aired on stations with farm programming, farmers instantly recognized it. His description of a farmer was right on.
Overall the commercial was excellent. The producers only made one mistake. I will disclose it with a question. What company aired the commercial? If you remember, good for that company. To discover the company, you would have had to watch the commercial closely all the way to the end. The company’s name was only shown for a few seconds at the very end of a two-minute commercial. That was a big mistake. The company would have been further ahead if it had displayed its logo and name in a lower corner throughout the commercial.
RAM trucks, the company, went through great pains and paid a great deal to air an effective commercial. Why only have its name on screen for a few seconds? Why not associate its name with the commercial for two minutes? The company would have achieved much more from the commercial if it had done so.
The second popular commercial which targeted its market well was the Clydesdale Budweiser commercial. Reminiscent of the “War Horse” movie and “Christian the Lion” video, this commercial reached for the heart. It grabbed mine. Everyone with whom I have spoken agrees. It has stuck in my mind, and, because of the Clydesdale, I associate it with Bud. I’m certain that an important goal of the commercial was to maintain Bud customers. As a consumer of Bud, I can attest that it reached that goal with me.
I was disappointed to find out that Budweiser made a mistake with this commercial. In conjunction with the commercial, Budweiser ran a contest for naming the colt shown at the opening, which was born January 16. The company announced the contest in its first ever tweet on January 26. It received over 60,000 responses via tweets and phone calls. Management was excited about this response.
Think about how many responses Budweiser missed. Think about the opportunity Bud missed. If Budweiser had also offered that contest at the end of the commercial, how many more votes would it have received? A lot. Those additional votes would have represented more than additional numbers. They would have been cast by consumers who became more involved in the Budweiser brand through their interactivity of voting.
Management could have taken this one step further and announced the name of the foal at the end of the Super Bowl. This action would have involved consumers even further and given the commercial more mileage.
Budweiser’s mistake was not maximizing the contest, threading it through all its marketing, and announcing the name at a strategic time. Contests get attention. They generate buzz. Maximize their impact by promoting them through every communication and announcing their results at a peak time.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is Which was your favorite Super Bowl commercial and why? E-mail me your answer.
I am excited to share with you that my new book, Mistakes I Made Buying Advertising, will be released in three weeks. Watch for more details.
Overall the commercial was excellent. The producers only made one mistake. I will disclose it with a question. What company aired the commercial? If you remember, good for that company. To discover the company, you would have had to watch the commercial closely all the way to the end. The company’s name was only shown for a few seconds at the very end of a two-minute commercial. That was a big mistake. The company would have been further ahead if it had displayed its logo and name in a lower corner throughout the commercial.
RAM trucks, the company, went through great pains and paid a great deal to air an effective commercial. Why only have its name on screen for a few seconds? Why not associate its name with the commercial for two minutes? The company would have achieved much more from the commercial if it had done so.
The second popular commercial which targeted its market well was the Clydesdale Budweiser commercial. Reminiscent of the “War Horse” movie and “Christian the Lion” video, this commercial reached for the heart. It grabbed mine. Everyone with whom I have spoken agrees. It has stuck in my mind, and, because of the Clydesdale, I associate it with Bud. I’m certain that an important goal of the commercial was to maintain Bud customers. As a consumer of Bud, I can attest that it reached that goal with me.
I was disappointed to find out that Budweiser made a mistake with this commercial. In conjunction with the commercial, Budweiser ran a contest for naming the colt shown at the opening, which was born January 16. The company announced the contest in its first ever tweet on January 26. It received over 60,000 responses via tweets and phone calls. Management was excited about this response.
Think about how many responses Budweiser missed. Think about the opportunity Bud missed. If Budweiser had also offered that contest at the end of the commercial, how many more votes would it have received? A lot. Those additional votes would have represented more than additional numbers. They would have been cast by consumers who became more involved in the Budweiser brand through their interactivity of voting.
Management could have taken this one step further and announced the name of the foal at the end of the Super Bowl. This action would have involved consumers even further and given the commercial more mileage.
Budweiser’s mistake was not maximizing the contest, threading it through all its marketing, and announcing the name at a strategic time. Contests get attention. They generate buzz. Maximize their impact by promoting them through every communication and announcing their results at a peak time.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is Which was your favorite Super Bowl commercial and why? E-mail me your answer.
I am excited to share with you that my new book, Mistakes I Made Buying Advertising, will be released in three weeks. Watch for more details.
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