The boxes have changed, but the slogan stays the same.
Stop right where you are. Picture yourself back at home in front of your television, eating chips and dip or reading the newspaper or your favorite magazine. Now, take a moment and think of the most memorable advertising campaigns that come to mind.
There is an endless list of these and of course it may be a little subjective. However, for me, the top of the list are:
- M&Ms, “Melts in your mouth, not in your hands”
- Wendy’s, “Where’s the beef?”
- Wheaties, “Breakfast of champions”
Why are these so memorable? Is it because there is a nostalgic association with the brand? Or maybe when the M&Ms commercial appeared you were being entertained by the Super Bowl or American Idol with friends. In some cases, these campaigns were alive and well before you were, yet they manage to be top of mind.
The point is that we rarely ask ourselves these questions. Why should we? We are the consumer. We are there to be enlightened, stimulated and entertained. The power of great campaigns is that we cannot pinpoint why they are so great or perhaps even the actual commercial, print ad or billboard. Even as marketers, we become engulfed by these “memorable” campaigns.
These “memorable” campaigns are now taking a different form from being placed on cereal boxes or committing millions of dollars to a television spot during the U.S. Open. They are unleashed in the YouTube, Twitter, Facebook world. Do these make the campaigns more relevant or memorable? At this point, we are not quite sure. Yet because consumers can be more targeted and inundated via social media, with images at almost every touch point, the recall for these new age campaigns may stay top of mind 10 years from now.
In the end, it is a two-way street. So, carry on using YouTube and reading magazines. In five years, instead of picturing yourself in front of your television or reading the newspaper, conjure up images of you at your computer using Skype and passing along campaign messages with friends in all corners of the globe. Now, do you remember “Breakfast of Champions?”
