I have heard many times the folly of relying on branded campaigns. This experience just cements that advice for me…
Yesterday I went for a full day gym ‘workshop’ with a few friends (all much younger than me – I mention that for a reason). One of the guys was wearing some plastic sunglasses branded on the side with Skinny in the branded font. Being that I am connected to the telecommunications industry, and that I have a number of friends that are now working for Skinny I was curious. So I asked Alan & Tash what they thought of Skinny.
I was surprised at the answer:
Both of them had heard of the brand but neither of them knew what Skinny was!
Alan had been to the Wellington Sevens and had been given the sunglasses and other branded “Free Stuff” at the Railway station on the way to the game. Plus of course it had been flashed on the hoarding around the games in Psychodelic colour all weekend. Tash had come across the brand a few times but was unsure where. They were amazed when I told them skinny was a telecommunications company specialised in prepaid and positioning themselves as offering only what you need. -At which point they immediately got the ‘story’ behind the name Skinny.
Now I don’t have anything to do with this brand except for my curiosity, and I am sure that some person involved with the marketing would say that these guys are not in the target demographic or some other excuse. For the record we are talking about a 29 year old male and a 23 year old female, so you decide if they fit the low-priced pre-paid-mobile demographic.
But if this is not the demographic they are looking for why were they so heavy on advertising at the Wellington Sevens? In my experience, attending the sevens, is not a low-priced affair. The last group I went with had iphones as a minimum, and I think most of those were on a corporate account of one business or another.
At the Sevens Skinny promo crew had the photo frames and temporary Tattoos out. Wouldn't have hurt to put the URL on the photo frame...
Skinny has a good story in the name. Telling the story is the key thing to do. They do it quite well on their facebook page, but they do not seem to be driving people to that page to tell the story.
Okay enough about Skinny. -What can you learn from this?
Every advertisement or promo piece should tell at least a part of the story. It must always link to where they can get the rest of the story.
For example if Alan’s sunglasses said something like: “Skinny – Cutting the fat since 2011 -www.livingskinny.co.nz” There is a chance that Alan’s curiosity will get the better of him, and he will check out the site (any chance is better than no chance).
Now whether he is part of the demographic or not he has the story. Stories are viral. They are the original viral. Alan is later talking to someone who complains about their phone bill and he says “have you checked out that new phone company that cuts the fat out of your phone bill?” -Rather than: “Nah man, I don’t know what the name on my sunglasses is about”.
And one more thing to ponder:
How many parents were at the sevens? How many have teenage kids? If they were exposed to the Skinny story, directly through advertising or indirectly through word of mouth, what are the chances that they might get their kids onto a more cost effective mobile network?
Don’t you make the mistake that big companies are making. Ensure you always have a call to action to connect or visit with every advertisment or touch point.
And remember it isn’t the big companies that have an advantage anymore. Speed and strategy will beat spending power in today’s connected world.
It's not all bad, at least they had the phone tie-in. -Although this fellow looks a little puzzled.
