Marketing Campaigns

Some That Killed It and Some That Should’ve

Been Killed

What We Can Learn

What's the point of this presentation?

• Learn from some really good marketing efforts and some really bad ones from a strategic perspective

• Includes online, offline & mobile efforts

• Voice your opinion

• Takeaways for your business or clients

• Catch a 30 minute nap

Who am I?

14+ years of marketing experience...

• marketing director 

• business/marketing consultant

• owned a Chick-fil-A 

• sang on David Letterman

• husband, father, runner, etc.

• new director of business development at LunaWeb

• @runningstp #reallygreatguy

Marketing That Killed It

Blendtec

• “Will it Blend?” videos featuring founder Tom Dickson

• Started October, 2006• 130M+ video views• Sales increased 5x• Tons of PR• Ad Age’s top 10 viral

Why It Works

• Destroys things

• Demonstrates product

• Multiple channels (video, app)

• Timely: Piggy backs on popular products/news (i.e., iPhone 4S)

• Raises curiosity

• It’s unexpected

Applebee’s Talking Cat• 89 restaurants

• Started 06/11

• 14 minute guarantee

• 60k+ scans

• 5,900+ FB likes

• 70k+ YouTube channel views

• Lunch sales up 9.8%

Why It Works

• Interactive• Considers a captive audience with time on

their hands• Fun• Unique• Clear message: Builds on the 14 minute

guarantee

Takeaways So Far• If you have a great product - show it, especially

if you can show it doing something unusual

• Keep it simple

• Entertainment is good!

• Success doesn’t always require high investment

• QR codes can be effective when used at the right time

• Always consider your audience and what message you want to communicate

Marketing that should have been DOA…

Sony PSP - 2005

• “Vandalism” - urban kids w/ PSP’s

• Targeted “urban nomads”

• Touted as disruptor device

Urban Nomads Respond

No street cred for Sony!

Sony PSP – Christmas, 2006

• Charlie blogs to get his friend Jeremy a PSP for Christmas

• Charlie’s cousin Pete raps about wanting a PSP

www.alliwantforxmasisapsp.com

A phony is sniffed out…

…www.somethingawful.com

Sony, er, Charlie Responds

Yo where all u hatas com from... juz cuz you aint feelin the flow of PSP dun mean its sum mad faek website or summ... you all be trippin.

-Charlie

Surprise, it was us…

Busted. Nailed. Snagged. As many of you have figured out (maybe our speech was a little too funky fresh???), Peter isn't a real hip-hop maven and this site was actually

developed by Sony. Guess we were trying to be just a little too clever. From this point forward, we will just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you

nothing but the facts on the PSP. -Sony Computer Entertainment America

Why It Failed

• They faked it • And then they tried to cover it up• Condescension is a bad marketing

tactic – they underestimated their audience’s intelligence

• They used a really bad rapper

Rutgers Mobile Marketing Mini MBA

According to the website, it’s a program designed to help: “participants design, manage, and track mobile-marketing programs and

campaigns. It provides the business case for

integrating and leveraging mobile into marketing plans,

as well as practical and tactical uses of mobile

tools.”

When you scan the code with your mobile device you get…

…a standard, non-mobile website

Why It Fails

• QR code takes you to traditional website not optimized for mobile.

• These guys should know better given the content of what they’re teaching.

More Takeaways

• Be authentic. Faking it only ticks people off.• Don’t insult your customers – they’re smart.• If you mess up, own up to it – don’t cover it up.• When using mobile, truly go mobile. Standard

websites tied to QR codes are a bad idea.• Have relevant content for mobile – interactive is

good.• Tie it to a good promotion or message.

More Marketing Fails

• GM ad for college discount program

• Ads pulled after complaints

“Stop pedaling… start driving”

Giant Bicycles responds quickly…

• Opportunistic• Timely and

effective• Understands

target market

“stop driving…start pedaling”

Get a 2nd opinion!!

These are your call…

Dr. Pepper Ten

• A not-diet soda targeted to men

• Offensive?• On-target?

Quiznos’ Spongemonkeys

• Men 18-34• Loved or

hated• 4x website

traffic• Created by

Joel Veitch

“They got a pepper bar!!!”

Recap

• Consider your audience• Entertainment is good• Be consistent & clear• Take advantage of recent trends/headlines• Be authentic• Customers are smart• Get a 2nd opinion• Optimize for whatever channel or platform you’re

using

Other Noteworthy Campaigns

• Good– True Blood launch– Ford Fiesta Movement– Geico guinea pigs

• Bad– PETA – Got Beer?– Milk PMS campaign– GM: Create your own Tahoe ad

• Others??

Questions, comments,

or other wit to share?