I see live people . . .

9 Inch Axiom – The Sixth Sense

‘The ability to speak, to be heard and to be acknowledged is a sensory experience’

A couple of posts ago I introduced the idea that the ability to converse was our Sixth Sense.  

Old school marketing was all about brands maintaining a one way dialogue talking to their customers via traditional media.  Listening to your customers was something that was done sparingly . . . in things like focus groups or telephone surveys.  

With the rise of social media, new school marketing is allowing consumers the ability to directly converse with brands.  More importantly for brands who embrace the conversation it allows for the power to engage and connect with consumers.

My father was fond of telling me that God gave me two ears and one mouth.  My standard reply was “What. . . Huh”. His obvious message was that we should listen twice as much as we talk.  That seems like good advice for brands.

Case Study: “Who has the World’s Worst Commute?”

The Daytona 500 is the Super Bowl of experiential marketing.  Brands that invest in NASCAR understand the importance of activation and the power of integrating the sponsorship into their overall marketing plan.  The early February date means you get treated to the latest and greatest. Walking the Midway in Daytona for a marketer is like being a kid in a candy store.  

I’m always interested in looking at activations that have some ‘legs’ and extend beyond the event footprint.  There was one promotion that really stood out.  Quaker State had an event setup that encouraged consumers to create a video.  It was based upon a simple premise and pain point for consumers . . . commuting.  They are searching for the world’s worst commute.

[Sidebar - Commutes are like opinions and a--holes . . . everyone has got one and to varying degrees they all stink]

Quaker State used the promotion to launch their new website and reinforce their positioning of the world’s most durable oil. Here is the contest in a nutshell:

The winner of the video-submission contest will receive a once in a lifetime ride to work with a very special chauffeur: Jimmie Johnson, only the second driver in NASCAR history to win three consecutive Sprint Cup Series championships.   To enter, consumers submit a 30- to 60-second video highlighting why they have the “world’s worst commute.”

This is a brilliant campaign on many levels.  It is fully integrated into the overall marketing plan:

• Advertising – using the best of the consumer generated videos to create TV ads
• Sponsorship – leveraging the affiliation with Hendrick Motorsports and Jimmie Johnson
• PR – the concept is extremely sticky and the payoff of Jimmie Johnson as one of the judges and driving a consumer to work is a great hook
• Online – utilizing the promotion as the backbone to launch their new website
• Viral – consumers vote on the best videos which means contest entrants are motivated to share and spread the word
• Experiential – creating a vehicle based mobile marketing tour that takes the message directly to the consumer

Today’s Lagniappe – A piece of trivia and a movie + book reco:

Trivia – Did you know that Nike was going to be originally called ‘DIMENSION SIX’?  Check out this excerpt from the book  Bowerman and the Men of Oregon for the interesting backstory.

Movie - It’s hard to believe 2009 marks the 10th anniversary of M.Night Shyamalan’s third film ‘The Sixth Sense’.  It’s a supernatural thriller and one for the ages.

Book – Joseph Jaffe’s Join the Coversation is a must read and primer on the importance of conversation.

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