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The Teaser: Alive and Well In Automotive Marketing
[The following is an article originally posted via my Examiner column on automotive marketing which can be found here: http://bit.ly/zFaQe]
It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book for launching a new, highly anticipated product, but it’s still alive and well in automotive marketing. Indeed, the slow tease has become a staple in the arsenal of an increasing number of automakers lately. Acura did it with the ZDX. Lotus did it with the Evora (Eagle). Tesla killed us with the Model S. Rolls Royce tortured the insanely rich with a little Ghost tease. And now Audi’s decided get in on the fun and tease us with a little peek at the potential redesign of their flagship, the A8. It’s the “it” thing right now, and I'm guessing it'll stay that way.
But why are so many automakers turning to the tease as they launch new products? Aside from the fact that it usually escalates the level of anticipation in the market, I think they’re realizing that when they release their products in small, vague doses they can take advantage of massive amounts of media coverage available via blogs and automotive news sites like Jalopnik, GoTryke, Autoweek, Autopia, Motortrend, etc. that are rabidly covering ALL of the developments in the automotive world. And those combined with conversation on Twitter, Facebook and all of the other social media tools, the word-of-mouth generated is immense.
I love this as a tactic for a product reveal. Especially when given a unique twist, like the Lotus Evora, where the automaker sent press outlets a series of images of the technologies and components that made the car innovative, rather than just images of the design itself (That's called sticking to the brand message). One thing I’m hoping to see is a teaser campaign that ties in better with interactive media. We’ve seen microsites that release the teaser images, but none that integrate in a meaningful way with a cohesive social media or guerilla marketing effort.
Interested in hearing more of our innovative thoughts on what the perfect automotive teaser campaign might look like? Contact me via our website - http://www.sutter-group.com - or send me an email: garret [at] sutter-group [dot] com.
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Sharpie A Backpack
Earlier this week I wrote about Sharpie’s newest campaign, “Sharpie Uncapped” and how they are taking the idea of aggregating content generated by users through social media and making it pay off. Today on Twitter I learned about another element in their integrated campaign that I also wanted to share.
Apparently they’ve partnered with Office Depot, a huge supplier of Sharpie product, to create “Project Backpack.” Through the site http://www.myprojectbackpack.com, users are encouraged to visit Office Depot to purchase the qualifying backpack and two free Sharpie pens and submit their custom backpack designs. It reminds me a little bit of Champion’s “Hoodie Remix” which I covered HERE. This is a brilliant effort by Sharpie to use integrated marketing to support their existing Sharpie Uncapped campaign (which is noted on the myprojectbackpack.com site). I imagine through Project Backpack they’ll receive tons of great submissions on sharpieuncapped.com.
Thanks, @sharpiesusan (another element in their integrated marketing arsenal)
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Interactive Ed - Organ/Tissue Donation
If your main marketing goal is to educate or raise awareness, I’ve got a great site I think you should check out as inspiration. A good friend of mine, @jojoreed on Twitter, passed along a link for a site that does a really great site of providing information and awareness on the critical issue of organ donation. Check it out HERE.
Not only does it provide a captivating (yet somewhat graphic) look at the different organs and tissues that can be donated, but it also allows users to join the movement, learn interesting facts and share the message with their peers—You can even watch transplant videos, if you’re so inclined.
The only thing a little perplexing to me is that there is no form of social media support built in for this campaign. There’s no Twitter account, no Facebook account that I can find, and you can’t share the site on any other social networks, potentially limiting the reach of the campaign. Perhaps that’s why they’re only 12% of the way to their goal of 15,000 members.
Want to see some other examples of interactive presentations that serve to educate and raise awareness? Check out these projects we did for NASA, including on that’s actually a bit reminiscent of the Recycleme site:
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Smart Promotion From Smart
Living just over the Washington DC border in Maryland I see my fair share of Smart Cars. I can’t say that I honestly like the vehicles they produce, but they certainly serve a purpose—to fit places where other regular size cars can’t.
Smart has always been proud of its positioning and it has been the focus of all of their marketing efforts to date—which is why the Smart-branded URL shortener found at http://url.so-smart.be/ makes so much sense. Although there must be over a hundred URL shorteners in existence, this is one of the first commercial applications that I’ve seen that makes sense and serves to drive home a brand’s core positioning.
Judging by the .be domain and the corresponding microsite, http://so-smart.be, this campaign looks to be focused on Europe where citizens are much more receptive to micro-cars. Even still, the positioning is strong and if they continue to drive home the benefits of having a small, purpose-built car in an urban area, I think they’ll sell a lot of these.
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Swine Flu Hysteria
Thanks largely to the news media and the power of social media, the Swine Flu has struck fear in the minds of millions in the United States. It’s literally difficult to go five minutes without hearing about the “pandemic” and the massive amount of danger it presents to the human race. I’ve even been reading Tweets recently linking the outbreak to terrorism…
The truth of the matter is, the regular flu is every bit as dangerous as the Swine Flu. Even still, much of the United States is currently in a frenzy preparing for the pig virus to strike in their region. Here in Maryland and DC, hospitals are distributing masks to employees and patients to prevent the spread of the virus. Schools are closing. Businesses are putting plans in place. It’s full-on hysteria.
Thankfully, a non-profit has set up a website that automatically screens you to let you know if you have symptoms that are indicative of H1N1, the “official” name of the illness. Even better, it tells you how to proceed if you may have the Swine Flu.
Feeling a little weird today? Check out http://www.doIhaveswineflu.org ; )
Via @amywoo
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