Spicing up a social media campaign

The marketing world is all atwitter (pun intended, of course) with the Old Spice social media success. @edlee pointed out quite correctly on 15 July that the phenomenal message generation was all started with millions of dollars in traditional media—the TV ads and the witty agency that came up with it.

Social media and traditional media don’t have to be bitter enemies: they actually are great friends. We marketers are still in the process of testing how to best use them (educated guesses, but still guesses to some degree). Old Spice just made the commitment. I mean, personal video responses to tweets? That’s commitment that most marketers would run from in horror.

That is, until they figured out to make it a bigger deal than it really is.

“Boldness has genius, power and magic in it,” said Goethe (I’m citing not to show off my superior intellect, but rather so I don't have to go to all the trouble of linking to the quote).*

On the other hand, @edlee also just tweeted that Old Spice sales are down 7% in the US (not including Wal-Mart). Is that A) a game of knock-the-leader-off-the pedestal or B) numbers from before this campaign or C) proof that humor can distract too much from the real product benefits message? Time will tell.

* After posting I nerdily read up on this quote... apparently it is not really by Goethe. It's really by W.H. Murray who claimed it came from Goethe—presumably using an extremely loose translation of G's work.

Humor: making it work

Still on the hunt for the best B2B voice, but wanted to dive in on a great, underrated consumer campaign: the Travelocity Gnome campaign. What's working?

1. Voice and message balance. The creatives really nailed the slightly edgy, self-deprecating humor that resonates with the online-savvy, 25 - 45 crowd. Humor has to identify and "be one" with the audience--but not offend. This Travelocity does deftly.

2. On-message. Inserting humor is comparatively easy, but it's tricky to use humor without distracting from the message. The Travelocity campaign manages to walk that fine line successfully, for the most part.

3. Social media elements. The Facebook component of the campaign has been simple and easy, pitting 2 locations against one another for voting. Plenty of terrific photos. Once again, the humor and personality is present but not over the top.

4. Differentiated. Competitors like Expedia are taking themselves very seriously. Travelocity gets the creative advantage of being the underdog--and they're using it well.

I confess I originally thought that the Gnome would be short-lived. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next from McKinney.