Tap The Rockies?
Attend any marketing conference or read any industry trade publication and you’ll receive the same message: The consumer is in control. We’re told that we need to engage consumers on their turf, make brands interactive, and gasp—perhaps even include user-generated content into the marketing mix. What happens, however, if a brand tries to follow these new rules, but the results aren’t engaging, funny or propel a consumer to share the brand’s content with their family and friends?
Take the recent Coors Light commercials, which seem to have all the right moves. The commercials consist of YouTube-esque videos of stand up comics cracking unknowingly, lame jokes about Coors Light before cutting to a standard quick marketing message. I distinctly remember sitting on my friend Val’s couch as one of these commercials played. We all looked at each other with a gaze of slight embarrassment for Coors Light. It was at that point that the room decided the commercial actually made us want to go out and buy Miller Light, to which Val gleefully chanted, “It’s Miller Time!”
(Ed. Note: Only one I could find; most were even worse)
But for every Coors Light stinker, there’s usually another campaign that does get it right. A recent example that comes to mind is JC Penney’s back-to-school campaign that cleverly touches on the iconic ’80s film, “The Breakfast Club.” Considering my job involves marketing and advertising, I sometimes get a strange pleasure from watching my friends, family or even strangers watch, react to and discuss various forms of marketing without them knowing that I’m observing. This was the case with the JC Penney ads. During a recent trip to South Carolina, I watched my older cousin view the ad. I noticed that he paid particular attention to it. I mentioned that it seems to have lifted heavily from “The Breakfast Club.” His eyes lit up, “I knew that seemed familiar,” he said with a bit of excitement. When his wife entered the room, he told her that she’d like the JC Penney commercial next time it came on, which he was sure would be soon since we were watching MTV, the king of repetition.
A few days later, I was watching the Olympics with my little brother when the same JC Penney commercial aired. “I like this commercial a lot,” my brother said without any prompting from me. As the Olympics began to play again, my brother continued to sing the song from the commercial. Just for sh*ts and giggles, I decided to test him. “Do you remember what brand that song and commercial were for?” I asked. “Yeah, JC Penney. Why?” “No reason,” I said, thinking to myself that his answer would be exactly what executives at JC Penney would want to hear coming from a kid who was literally about to do his back-to-school shopping after vacation for his upcoming sophomore year of high school. JC Penney’s “Get That Look” campaign rounds off with an enticing, interactive micro-site. It’s almost like “The Breakfast Club” theme song that also plays in the commercial has an underlying message about JC Penney for consumers: Don’t you, forget about me…don’t don’t don’t dooon’t you, forget about me.
Pat Cauley is Electronic Retailer magazine’s eMedia editor.
Tags: Advertising, bitcoms, brands, commercials, coors light, don't you forget about me, Electronic Retailer, jc penney, miller light, mtv, pat cauley, tbs, the breakfast club, user-generated content, youtube