What marketer doesn’t want their next campaign to go viral? When it means garnering more free exposure than you could afford to buy, who could resist trying? The problem occurs when more focus is given to the factors that make ads go viral than the factors that generate sales. Unfortunately, these are rarely the same.
The viral success of the current Old Spice campaign is undeniable. Unfortunately, it hasn’t done much to convince consumers to buy the product. MSNBC reported recent WARC figures which show sales of Old Spice Body Wash are down 7% year-to-date. Most likely you’ve seen the campaign. Were you entertained? Were you given a compelling reason to buy Old Spice? I’m thinking you only answered “yes” to one of these.
What would you think if someone told you they were going to generate sales by creating a shocking, unbelievably comical, and unique message? Probably that they don’t know much about marketing. Those three things will certainly get a consumers attention and they may help a campaign’s chances of going viral, but they aren’t necessarily persuasive. So in pursuit of the glory to go viral, just remember to market the product, too.
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at 3:31 pm and is filed under Consumer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
It will be interesting to see the numbers for the next six months. I have a feeling although current sales may not have been impacted, the longer-term results will help the brand overall.
Good point, Michael. Even though the campaign started last February (in the Super Bowl), most of the buzz has been more recent. I think it will have a halo effect for the brand, but probably not the Body Wash product. If you asked most people that have seen the spot, I don’t think they’d remember which product it promotes.
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