Marketing

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Marketing Monday: Merry Kissmas

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In the most recent Friday Find I shared one of my favorite holiday treats. (The non-edible kind. For the edible kind I might need to start a whole new year-round blog. Have you heard of these things called pigs-in-a-blanket?) (Pigs-in-blankets?) Today I'm talking about another favorite holiday treat that also happens to be a marketing spot. And it's food!

Surely most of us are familiar with it: The simplicity that is the genius of turning a classic thing into something it's not, and setting it to music. 

I remember when this ad first came out in 1989, and how fun and different I thought it was, even as a kid. I was captivated. I've enjoyed seeing it every year since, but I otherwise knew nothing about it until I stumbled across this case study that gives a bit of the background and nails what the ad means for me:

"With each passing year, the ad triggers feelings of nostalgia—you can remember when you first saw it, and associate memories of holidays past, making it a tradition in itself.

What may be most impressive, though, is how in just 16 seconds' time, Hershey's somehow gets you into the holiday spirit—and makes you think about grabbing a bag of chocolate Kisses—without saying a single word out loud."

I'm clearly not alone in my nostalgia: 

That's some truly timeless marketing. What's more impressive, possibly, is that the ad only came to be because a marketing exec took a risk and did something he wasn't supposed to do. Check out the Hershey's Archives' story on how the ad came to be. That gamble paid off, and it's now Hershey's longest running commercial to date. It's even inspired tributes (some might say knock-offs).

Bonus #1: It also led me down a rabbit hole of 80s TV commercial nostalgia. Do you remember any of these? I do!

Bonus #2: It also reminded me of these 'give a kiss' ornaments that were all the rage in the 80s. Squeeze their cheeks and Hershey's kiss was waiting for you inside. We had one on our tree growing up, and I want to say it was green. Maybe it was a frog? I don't remember. But man, nostalgia sure will do it every time.

Picture from Pinterest.

Picture from Pinterest.

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Marketing Monday: Catch 'em Off Guard

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It's not exactly a secret that the best marketing is effective. And maybe the second-best marketing is effective because it is memorable. I'm sure there is some science or reference articles or extra-long think pieces I could link to to prove this thesis, but it's Monday of a hectic week and so I'm going to own that that sounds good to me right now and it fits in with my point today: this bear is owning it. 

This bear. This bear, man. Pop-ups are annoying. This bear is owning it! AND he's being charming about it, which is what made me stop, look twice, laugh, show my husband, screenshot it, and post about it here two days later. 

Look! Look at him!

Smug little fella.

Smug little fella.

Full disclosure: It didn't make me fork over my email address (rarely does anything make me do that, in fairness), but it did endear me to the brand and branding and ensured that I would be back. And that I will probably sign up for that discount when I'm ready to buy something.

PS - My 2016 Gift Guide goes live one week from tomorrow! I'm featuring some Emily McDowell products this year, and trust me when I saw you want to check out her stuff. 

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Marketing Monday: Why the Why

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Today, I'm into this blog post over at KAI Partners, from a friend of mine, Sarah Walsh (this isn't in any way sponsored: I just like this post a whole lot). Sarah's talking about 'why', and why it "seems to be having a moment" in business. The article focuses mostly on making transitions and change go more smoothly, but 'why' is–and must be–a crucial touchpoint from the ground up, in everything from changes to the software your employees use to your marketing plans.

If you don't know the why in your marketing plan, then you don't know the who, which means you don't know the how or the what. And where does that leave you?

Photo from LinkedIn SlideShare, Simon Sinek, via Kai Partners.

Photo from LinkedIn SlideShare, Simon Sinek, via Kai Partners.

When I speak with prospective clients, I ask them some standard questions. I ask them about who their competition is, what sets them apart, who their ideal client is, how their clients find them, and how they'd like their clients to find them. I ask them questions that paints a picture of who they are and what they do. But all of these questions are designed to get at the root of who they are, of what they stand for: of why they do what they do, of what drives them. Sometimes this is really easy. Sometimes it's harder than you'd expect.

Have you heard of the Five Whys? It's a way of getting beyond superficial reasons to a real root cause of a problem, and it's essentially what my questions get at. Yes, in order to be successful we need to know where we're going, but as the old (butchered) saying goes, you need to know where you're coming from and why you're on the train in the first place and what's fueling your train and how to keep fueling it and who's on it in order to get the outcome you want. 

Screenshot from the example at isixsigma.com.

Screenshot from the example at isixsigma.com.

The pinned tweet on my Twitter profile is this one:

Which brings us full circle: all of this talk about 'why' goes to authenticity. Authenticity is easy to believe in, whereas selling (proverbially) something you don't believe in is not. In general, but in content marketing specifically, what you're really selling is the story about what you're selling. At the end of the day, that's what it comes down to. And people don't want to be sold to or talked at. They want to have a conversation, be told a story, and believe in what you do.