Zazou Marketing

If you’ve ever seen a Starburst advertisement, you know that they are usually a bit zany. For example, a recent ad showed a man trying to make a friend feel better by offering him a Starburst candy. But both men had really, really long arms, so the candy fell into a sewer.

Now, though, the company is launching a marketing campaign that is still silly — but talks about the product more. The crux of the new marketing message is the “contradiction” between the candy’s hard outer shell and the chewy center.

According to Brandweek:

One new TV spot features a kilt wearing and bagpipe-clad Korean man admonishing a child for eating Starburst. “Look at this! One contradiction eating another!” the man says. “What do you mean?” the boy asks in bewilderment. “You’re Scotch-Korean. You don’t make a wee bit of sense. And neither does Starburst. Starburst is a solid. It’s juicy. Like a liquid,” the musical player replies in a thick, Scottish accent.

Where did the idea for this marketing campaign come from? You guessed it: The customer.

Again, from the Brandweek article:

Starburst marketing director Trish Trecartin said the “contradiction” insight came from consumers. “Each time someone unwraps a piece, they are greeted with a mouthful of contradictions or surprises—a solid candy that is chewy, a treat meant for sharing that is hard to give away, and an instant burst of juicy flavor that lasts a long time,” she said via e-mail.

So, when you are coming up with your marketing message, feel free to include some zany copywriting. But also remember to ask your customers what makes them buy your product or service. And once you find out, figure out how to include those insights in your marketing message and copy.

Perhaps for the first time, Air New Zealand has managed to created safety videos that people will actually watch.

With a big dose of humor and light-hearted fun, the video speaks to the company’s lack of hidden fees. How? The safety video stars real-life company employees who are clad only in paint. Yes, that’s right: Paint.

While your head turns because of the elaborately painted-on uniforms, it’s the copy that is the punch line. At the beginning of the safety video, the paint-clad flight attendants introduce the video with the following copy:

Flight attendant 1: “Before we lift off, we’d like to give you what we call the bare essentials of safety aboard this flight.”

Flight attendant 2: “Even if you fly with us quite a lot, we’d appreciate it if you take… a second look.”

You won’t be surprised that seat belts, life vests and baggage conceal body parts, as needed.

Perhaps just as compelling as the curiosity factor, though, is that the crew seems to genuinely be having fun — almost laughing — as they impart their safety wisdom. And the music (“Under My Skin,” by New Zealand singer Gin Wigmore ) is upbeat and cheerful. The total effect is that you really do want to watch.

Along with this new in-flight video is a similar ad campaign that has been running for about a month. The advertising campaign’s slogan is, “At Air New Zealand, our fares have nothing to hide. Which is why the price you pay includes everything — up front.”

In this ad, paint-clad staffers help with bags and paint-clad flight attendants offer drinks. Again, the tone is playful and the copy is the punch line. Case in point: The ad closes with two women sitting in the airport, watching as two pilots in their painted-on suits walk through the airport. One of the women says, “Do you love a man in uniform!”

This marketing campaign is successful on many accounts. First of all, the video and advertisement are entertaining (and you won’t be surprised that they have gotten a good viewing on YouTube). But they also effectively deliver a message about the brand. But, for me, perhaps one of the best parts of the marketing campaign is that in this day and age of security lines and cramped legroom, it makes traveling look fun again.

A couple of weeks ago I was driving on the freeway and a billboard caught my eye. There was an elephant walking out of a tar pit. The advertising copy read, “Elephant Odyssey. After 12,000 years, they’re finally back. San Diego Zoo.”

My immediate thought? “I need to go see that.”

And guess where I found myself this morning? Yes, at the zoo. In fact, when I arrived, I bypassed the flamingos, the panda from China and the aviary — my usual favorite. Instead I made a beeline for the Elephant Odyssey.

This is one of the few times that I can directly connect an advertisement to my behavior. And here’s how it worked: The ad design caught my attention; the advertising copy got me intrigued; and the total effect then got me to act on that interest. Bravo to this ad campaign!

Santa Monica, California just launched an example of an advertising campaign that does it right: It has good copy and good design. The campaign plays off the children’s game of “One of these things is not like the others” to remind/teach people about the city’s no-smoking laws.

According to the New York Times, the advertising campaign is extensive, including ad wraps on the beaches’ garbage cans and posters at bus stops and A.T.M.s.

The advertisements all have three or four images with the words “One of these doesn’t belong …” or “One of these doesn’t belong here.” The best part — the images change according to where the ad is placed.

So, advertisements for restaurants show wheat, asparagus, breadsticks and cigarettes — each tied together in a similar manner. The ad copy? “No smoking in Santa Monica’s outdoor dining areas.”

Ads at the beach show a palm tree, a surf board and a cigarette. The copy says, “No smoking on Santa Monica’s beaches.”

Ads at bus stops show a wheel, a sign for a bus line, a bus token and an ashtray with a cigarette. “Please keep Santa Monica’s bus stops smoke-free,” the copy says. “It’s for our environment. It’s for each other. It’s the law.”

Ads at A.T.M.s show an A.T.M. screen, an A.T.M. keypad, a bank card and a stack of cigarettes. “Please keep Santa Monica’s A.T.M. lines smoke-free,” the copy requests.

The creative copy and design in this campaign together make a point quickly and easily, while being memorable — all things we strive to do in a good ad campaign.

Toyota’s marketing campaign for the 2010 Prius includes advertising on Gas Station TV — you know, those TV screens at the gas pump that show news and ads. I for one hate those TV screens and do everything I can to avoid going to gas stations that have them. I simply resent being forced to watch and listen to whatever is being blasted during the time that I pump my gas.

Assuming I am not the only one who feels that way, I might discourage Prius from using this marketing medium. However, a new study shows that this may just be the perfect venue for Prius to market to those unfortunate people who do have to watch ads while they are pumping.

Why? Because relevance is key. A generally known concept in marketing circles, there is new data to further back it up:

Ads on websites with content that related to those ads were 61 percent more likely to be recalled than those on websites with unrelated content, according to a study from CBS Vision, as reported by MediaPost’s Online Media Daily. Interestingly, social networks, shopping sites and food sites created the best recall rates (29 percent to 39 percent). And non-topic-specific search and portal sites had the lowest recall rates.

While this study is website specific, the results just back up what has already been proved by other studies. So, Prius may actually be smart to advertise to people who are pumping gas (and would rather not be). And you should definitely figure out who your target market is and where they are — and make sure to market to them there.

As the future of our country’s health care is debated, the health care insurance companies look like they are getting nervous — or at least preparing for the worst. What’s the indicator? Health insurance companies have increased direct mail offers by 18% in the past year, according to Mintel Comperemedia (as reported by MediaPost’s MarketingDaily).

The reason I mention it here is because I find it interesting how they are using their copy to differentiate themselves from one another. According to MarketingDaily:

United Healthcare advertises affordability and choice in its new UnitedHealthOne brand, while Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia’s SmartSense plan focuses on low costs for the unemployed. Taking a slightly different angle, Kaiser Permanente’s direct mail emphasizes general health and well being, claiming “we’ll help you live well, be well, and thrive.”

No matter what you think about healthcare reform, we could probably all learn a bit from their savvy marketing efforts and attempts to grab some of the market by setting themselves apart from each other.

Yesterday I wrote about how Dunkin’ Donuts’ new ad campaign successfully differentiates the company from their competition. Today I am writing about a company’s ad campaign that fails to do just that. In fact, this ad campaign simply makes me wonder what they were thinking.

In this ad campaign, Microsoft accuses Google of causing global economic ruin as a narrator says: “While everyone was searching, there was bailing. . . . While everyone was lost in the links, there was collapsing.” The product? Microsoft’s new  search engine, Bing. All I can say to this is, “What?!”

I am not alone in this confusion. The LA Times ran a story about it today, titled “Microsoft’s Bing TV ad: Huh?”

This is my favorite part of the article:

I find many mysteries in this commercial. The first is how an ad firm with an estimated $100 million entrusted to it fails to notice the clumsy grammar (”there was bailing . . . there was collapsing” sounds as if the lines were translated from Zulu). While I’ve got my copy-editing hat on, I’d note that a long stretch of the ad’s narration — “Starting today we need the right information to make the right decisions, decisions that help us feel right, decisions that help us get to the right place at the right time, even if it’s right around the corner. . . . ” — is so vacuous it practically sucked my eyeballs out of their sockets.

Sucking eyeballs out of sockets is probably the last association that Microsoft wanted when they launched this marketing campaign. But I still do wonder what it is that they did want. Maybe the purspose of the campaign is just to turn heads? I suppose simply by getting attention some people will try the search engine. But I can’t help but think that if they gave people a good reason to switch from Google to Bing, many, many more people would give it a try — this is, after all, what any good marketing material should do.

Dunkin’ Donuts is rolling out an entertaining and fun new ad campaign. But that’s not what made it noteworthy enough for me to write about here. The reason that I’m mentioning it is because — as all marketing campaigns should — this campaign effectively differentiates the company from their competition.

Dunkin’ Donuts’ “Breakfast NOT Brokefest” advertising campaign introduces the company’s new 99-cent breakfast wrap, which is also in line with their current coffee pricing.

Dunkin' Donuts is rolling out a new "Breakfast NOT Brokefest" ad campaign.

The marketing campaign includes displays of legs that stick out of public fountains, which make it look like someone jumped into the fountain to gather coins. A sign next to the legs read: “Please do not remove change for 99-cent items at Dunkin’ Donuts.”

In a separate TV ad, a man tightens his belt, which prompts a colleague to point out that that won’t save him money.

The price-oriented advertising campaign sets the brand apart from the pricier McDonald’s and Starbucks (who are both trying to tackle the coffee and breakfast market right now).  Considering that people are feeling the need to scale back and let go of luxuries like a $4 latte, the Dunkin’ Donuts campaign may entice more than a few new customers.

By the way, if you want to read more about what Starbucks has been up to recently, read my past posts:

Starbucks vs. Stella: Two beverage companies warn against paying less

Copy Chatter: Starbucks Bucks the Short Copy Trend

And the winner is…. Burger King!

No, it’s not the Academy Awards. It’s the Effies, which, if you’re in the advertising and marketing world, you already know is a big deal. The point of the Effie Awards? To honor marketing communications ideas that work.

So, the 2009 Grand prize was awarded last night to Burger King and Crispin Porter + Bogusky for the “Whopper Freakout” campaign.

The Grand Whopper Freakout campaign removed the Whopper from Burger King's menu and won the 2009 Grand Effie last night.

Here’s a summary of the campaign (go to the Effie Awards page for more details):

First, Burger King removed the Whopper from the menu without letting their customers know. Then, in phase two of the campaign, customers were given competitors’ burgers instead of the Whopper. Finally, Burger King TV ads to drove traffic to Whopperfreakout.com, where you can view an eight-minute documentary on the experiment (and, of course, you can upload it — see below). This part, of course is key, because the very entertaining and funny video focuses on the reactions of people who are being deprived of their beloved Whoppers. The result of the campaign was that Whopper quarterly sales increased by double-digits.

Double digit sales increase on the whopper? It just goes to show you that innovation and showing the value of your product or service can go a long way in your marketing campaign.

Recently I posted about how Starbucks was bucking the short-copy trend — opting for a page of copy rather than a one-line zinger. But it looks like they have been out-copied by a long shot!

As part of Cesar Sunrise’s launch of “the first-ever gourmet canine cuisine breakfast,” they have created an eight-page, make-believe humorous newspaper. Called The West Highland Herald, it is chock-full of stories written by dogs for dogs. Yes, you read that right: The stories are written by dogs with their dog peers in mind. (You can also view the paper on their Web site.)

To give you a sense of this newspaper, in the “fashion and lifestyle section” the headline reads, “Bold Shapes Dominate Milan Runways” and runs with the following photo:

This story includes the following excerpt:

First, let’s talk collars. Expect them to get tougher than leather, with several designers taking their cue from the junkyard and early 80s punk music. That’s right, studs and spikes are back! Goodbye bitch—hello butch!

And in the “Regional News” section a headline says, “Dog Saves Family from Vicious Vacuum,” with a story that starts with the following copy:

LOST GATOS—A very brave and fast-acting South Bay Pomeranian put an end to an upright vacuum bent on destruction this past Saturday. Teddy, 4, of La Serra Terrace, made a split-second decision that spared his family certain harm.

And there is a lot more where this came from.

You may ask, “Where is the Cesar ad in all of this?” That’s easy: On each page there is a labeled advertisement (definitely keeping things authentic here).  One says, “wake up to something special, cesar sunrise breakfast entrees.” Another says “new! cesar sunrise brand.” When you click through any of the ads, an extensive, multi-paged interactive Cesar ad pops up.

As for whether this humorous campaign will generate additional business, as always that remains to be seen. However, this ad campaign is entertaining and is certainly designed to go viral. If it does (with the help of a few people like me) it may very well increase sales.