Could classic ad campaigns have benefitted from social media? Underscore Marketing's president looks at how things might have been in advertising's heyday.
I'm a fan of classic Volkswagen advertising. Back home, I have refrigerator magnets of some of the old print ads for the original Beetle. The headline to one of them reads something to the effect of "A funny thing happened when I tried to expose that phony floating Volkswagen ad," and it's a take on the more famous earlier execution that depicted a floating VW. The suspicious gent in the later ad finds out that his Beetle does, indeed, float.
When I see that ad, I sometimes can’t help but wonder whether its author saw the internet coming. People love to verify claims made in advertising. Ask this guy on YouTube, who tested Billy Mays' claim that Hercules Hooks can hold 150 lbs., by hanging his own daughter on the wall.
It's almost too bad that online social networks, video-sharing sites, message boards and blogs weren't around in advertising's heyday. Some classic ad campaigns really could have benefitted from a social media component. For example:
The Energizer Bunny
Nothing begs for a "Make Your Own Commercial" contest quite like the old Energizer spots. I’m sure many spoofs exist. (I shudder to think there are probably some really funny and inappropriate ones lurking somewhere on Fark or SomethingAwful.)
It would have been great to watch people find new commercials for the Energizer Bunny to interrupt in new and funny ways. Why should the ad agency have all the fun? I'm sure the same tactic would work for the classic Absolut or "Got Milk" print ad campaigns. And it seems Mastercard's "Priceless" meme might actually live in perpetuity within online parodies.
A platform for an ad campaign can spin off dozens or hundreds of executions across multiple media. Now, imagine how the message behind the classic Energizer Bunny campaign might have been amplified if the social internet had been around and the brand had actually encouraged people to create their own ads. That's a lot of reinforcement of the brand's essence.
Avis -- We Try Harder.
The first ads in this campaign were groundbreaking because they admitted a fault, reflecting a refreshing honesty not seen in mainstream advertising at the time. Avis admitted to being No. 2 in the category behind Hertz but told its target audience that this was a good thing -- they had to try harder to please the customer.
I wonder how much better this campaign would have been if Avis could have shown customers that they try harder. Perhaps pulling some examples from customer review sites might have hammered that point home. Or maybe a “We Try Harder” blog to help solicit feedback on how to try harder for business may have helped the company get to No. 1.
The Incredible Edible Egg
It’s hard to get an ad message to break through a controversy. Eggs were good for you. Then they were bad for you. Then they were good for you again. Then only the white part was good for you. When controversy drowns out your ad campaign, even really good creative can have trouble making headway. Artificial sweeteners, milk, over-the-counter pain medications and tons of other products are in this bucket. I can't help but think that maybe a more modern take on something like "The Incredible Edible Egg" campaign might embrace the controversy a bit and use conversational marketing to help establish the facts and clear up the waters a bit.
What if there was an Incredible Edible Egg message board where incorrect assertions about whether or not eggs are healthy could be challenged?
It’s fun to think about this. Some of the advertising campaigns we consider classics might have made better social media campaigns, if you ask me. At the very least, integrating some of the broadcast elements with two-way elements would have made for some more effective communications efforts.
Tom Hespos is the president of Underscore Marketing and blogs at Hespos.com.