Who are the appropriate targets for new media/viral marketing and what do you do if your target is not in a young demographic? At the recent ANA Enhanced Task Force meeting when the Unilever Axe campaign was discussed, the thinking of those present appeared to be “…that type of advertising only works for those trying to reach young, hip men.”
Well – I say it works for men of any age and here is my hypothesis – most men are not brand loyal. The two most influential men in my life – my father and my husband – are maddeningly non brand loyal. I can’t tell you how many times my mother cringed when my Dad would go to the store and pick up the English Muffins on her list and disregard the word Thomas’s! No nooks and crannies in those store brands! And my 55 year old husband is exactly the same. Liquid Tide on my store list becomes translated into some random liquid laundry detergent I have never heard of.
Now my husband is kind of hip although at the age of 55 he is out of the core demographic (18 – 54) of most brands. I remember when Jack Myers turned 55 and told me he was having a party to celebrate moving out of the marketing mainstream.
We baby boomers are ego-centric and young at heart and probably in the best shape as we approach our 50’s than any previous generation. So those of you who still think in those old fashioned and age driven demographics heed this warning and rethink your strategy! In an age of incredibly fragmented media options, old ways of doing business don’t work anymore. Start with your consumer in the center, as the Axe brand did, and then figure out the right way to reach them. The Ravenstoke campaign doesn’t just show young hip men as did some of the earlier Axe pool outs, but shows men of all ages using the product. Believe me, we are happily married but my husband would gladly use Axe body spray to obtain those results!
And my 55 year old husband does regularly visit interesting websites – one of his new discoveries is the StumbleUpon web browser which takes you to interesting web sites found by people such as yourself - and he and his friends email viral videos to each other. Had he seen the Axe Ravenstoke VOD campaign (YouTube) on the Cartoon Network Adult Swim or stumbled upon it, I guarantee you he would have brought that product home – provided it was on sale and in some easy to reach store location or end aisle display!
I disagree with the way your premise if you use the example regarding your mom sending out your dad to buy groceries. I'll stereotype, but it that generation, most groceries were bought buy women and men would often have little brand loyalty toward products they usually don't buy. But if we're talking cars, beer, tools, etc., men are likely to have greater brand loyalty. Overall, maybe not as much as women, but it still can be quite high. And I'm still a fan of Word of Mouth marketing.
Posted by: Jonathan Trenn | July 13, 2006 at 11:03 AM