Challenge 5: Marketing Strategies

For this challenge I shall be looking at Marketing Techniques, and if specific ones would work today the same way they did then they were used.

The first technique I will talk about is the Old Spice one. It involved a former NFL wide receiver signed to film various adverts for Old Spice deodorant Company, with the intention of saying that if you used their products, you’d be as cool/successful/good-looking as he is. This was a rather casual approach to Marketing and more “personal” than “organisational”. Apparently the end result was that he responded to twitter comments by recording video responses personally. I think this was a good strategy as it put the advertisement on the same level as the customer, providing them with a personal experience rather than typical bland corporate advertising.

Old Spice Guy

I believe in the past such a technique could not have been used successfully, as the tastes of the public have changed, humour is different and also the technology was not in place for such a campaign to be used, such as the decade which I posted about earlier, the 1980’s, which would not have hosted such an advertising strategy because then there would not have been Twitter, nor would there have been video uploading sites.

Another technique i shall talk about is the I Love Bees Campaign which was for the release of Halo 2 on Xbox. It was an Alternate Reality game involving websites which contained hidden messages, videos and clues to work out the reason why a beekeeping website appeared to have been hacked. Its virtual existence spawned real-life interactions when the website revealed a series of co-ordinates, which related to pay phones. It was highly talked about and forum members worked together to unravel clues and decipher meanings of codes and subliminal messages.

Halo 2

I think the technique worked well and generated a lot of media attention and publicity for the already anticipated game, Halo 2. The campaign was a great idea in my opinion and must have been very exciting to be taking part in, and I believe it probably got Halo 2 many more customers than without the I Love Bees campaign. I also think this technique could only work in the modern times today, as back in the 1980’s such a technique would have been impossible to implement in the same way due to our state of technology and ease of making such a game.

The final technique I will talk about is the Go Compare advertising campaign. It has been running for the last year and continues to do so at the moment, and features  a singing opera man who has an irritating singing voice which is highly repetitive. He is featured in different TV and Radio commercials, and on his Television appearances there are different scenarios that he encounters, such as one where he visits a man stranded on a beach and he informs him that he needs to renew his insurance. There are many variations of the advert, viewable at the link below.

Gio Compario

I believe this technique is well executed, but a poor initial idea. I don’t think it would work back in 1980, nor does it work to great effect in this year. The aim of the advert is to get the repetitive song into your head, so that the first insurance comparison website you use is that one. The problem with the idea is that the advert gets old quickly, and irritates many people, resulting in people purposely not using the website out of principle.

Overall, none of the techniques work as an idea nor are they possible due to the advancement of our technology today, so I believe that whilst some are good, some just couldn’t be used previously.

Content Sources:
http://mashable.com/2010/07/18/old-spice-guy-videos/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_Bees
http://www.gocompare.com/press-office/tv-advert.aspx