With over fifty-five million view on YouTube alone, last year’s most-watched Super Bowl commercial was Budweiser’s “Puppy Love” about the bond between a yellow Labrador puppy and a Clydesdale. This year Budweiser is wisely building on that success with its “Lost Dog” campaign. The news media ran stories late last week about the trailer Budweiser released that announced the puppy was missing. As many online are commenting, “It will break your heart.” If you haven’t seen it and want to do so, go here.
Budweiser is asking consumers to help find the lost dog by following Budweiser on Twitter. The reward for finding the puppy is a trip to the Super Bowl including tickets and transportation. While this reward may be driving some, many would look for the puppy purely out of a desire to help. The concern for a lost dog pulls at consumers’ heart strings. “I’m having difficulty remembering this is not a real lost dog,” noted one tweet.
However Budweiser decides who finds the lost dog, its marketing team has done a magnificent job with this campaign. I want to point out three facets of it that all businesspeople can apply to their marketing.
First, the campaign has continuity. It builds on the success of last year’s ad. It uses a yellow Labrador puppy and takes the puppy’s story one step further. It taps into consumers’ emotional attachment to dogs to get their attention and involvement. It’s well-thought-out and planned. That planning is showing and paying off.
Second, the campaign employs multiple media with same message. The video on YouTube, the publicity via news outlets, and the viral tweets all focus on finding the lost dog. Like a snowball gathering momentum as it rolls downhill, each of these adds to the campaign’s effectiveness. Together they make the impact of the campaign bigger than any one of them could singly accomplish.
Third, the campaign is interactive. It involves consumers. It prompts them to tweet and talk about the campaign. It encourages creative responses to where the lost dog might be found. On Twitter, one person posted a picture of her dog with his head in a culvert searching for the lost dog. Another put up a picture of her dog Diesel and stated he had found the lost dog. A couple guys shot a video about the lost dog. Check out #BestBuds to see the interesting tweets.
Before you retreat into a thought of “My business does not have Budweiser’s marketing team. We could never put together a campaign like this,” realize that you don’t need to do so. Learn from Budweiser’s example that continuity, multiple media with the same message, and interactivity create powerful marketing. Employed together, they are a profitable force.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is How can you apply the facets of the “Lost Dog” campaign to your marketing? E-mail me your answer.
Budweiser is asking consumers to help find the lost dog by following Budweiser on Twitter. The reward for finding the puppy is a trip to the Super Bowl including tickets and transportation. While this reward may be driving some, many would look for the puppy purely out of a desire to help. The concern for a lost dog pulls at consumers’ heart strings. “I’m having difficulty remembering this is not a real lost dog,” noted one tweet.
However Budweiser decides who finds the lost dog, its marketing team has done a magnificent job with this campaign. I want to point out three facets of it that all businesspeople can apply to their marketing.
First, the campaign has continuity. It builds on the success of last year’s ad. It uses a yellow Labrador puppy and takes the puppy’s story one step further. It taps into consumers’ emotional attachment to dogs to get their attention and involvement. It’s well-thought-out and planned. That planning is showing and paying off.
Second, the campaign employs multiple media with same message. The video on YouTube, the publicity via news outlets, and the viral tweets all focus on finding the lost dog. Like a snowball gathering momentum as it rolls downhill, each of these adds to the campaign’s effectiveness. Together they make the impact of the campaign bigger than any one of them could singly accomplish.
Third, the campaign is interactive. It involves consumers. It prompts them to tweet and talk about the campaign. It encourages creative responses to where the lost dog might be found. On Twitter, one person posted a picture of her dog with his head in a culvert searching for the lost dog. Another put up a picture of her dog Diesel and stated he had found the lost dog. A couple guys shot a video about the lost dog. Check out #BestBuds to see the interesting tweets.
Before you retreat into a thought of “My business does not have Budweiser’s marketing team. We could never put together a campaign like this,” realize that you don’t need to do so. Learn from Budweiser’s example that continuity, multiple media with the same message, and interactivity create powerful marketing. Employed together, they are a profitable force.
This week's marketing trivia challenge is How can you apply the facets of the “Lost Dog” campaign to your marketing? E-mail me your answer.
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