Gold Medal Strategy for Marketing to Moms Posted on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 Category: Branding Author: Trish Helgeson
As brands fiercely market themselves as official Olympic sponsors during the ongoing coverage, an AdweekMedia/Harris Poll suggests many consumers will be indifferent. The study, conducted earlier this month before the Games began, asked respondents whether they're more likely or less likely to buy a brand when it's an official Olympic sponsor. A large majority (71 percent) said such sponsorship "makes no difference" to them. Twenty percent said it makes them "somewhat more" likely to buy the brand, and 5 percent that it makes them "much more" likely to do so. Two percent said an Olympic sponsorship makes them "somewhat less" likely to buy the brand, and another 2 percent said it makes them "much less" likely.
I'm on to those advertisers as it's what I do everyday. If I had taken the poll before the games, I would have probably said that I was indifferent to Olympic sponsorships. That is, until I saw the Procter and Gamble television spot. You know, the one that shows the kids in their USA gear, in the opening ceremony, getting ready for the games, at the top of the ski slope, on the ice skating rink, at the starting line of the speed skating, on the podium, and then shows the mother in the stands. The closing line - "To their moms, they'll always be kids. P & G Proud sponsor of Moms." Then they quickly show all their brand logos.
As a mom and a marketer, I was instantly moved to tears. Yes, that is exactly how mothers feel. That is how I feel when I watch my kids succeed or take a risk - even if they aren't in the Olympics. This brand actually gets me!
I'm also a marketer and love a good strategy. They did it - they had emotionally connected to the core of their target audience. So, as a marketer - they had me. They had taken the sponsorship of an event that I wasn't overly passionate about and made it about me - their target audience - while creatively executing it around the event. Pure creative genius!
I even had to share the ad with my FaceBook friends. Even though I knew it was exactly what they wanted me to do, I did it anyway because I loved the ad and was now more emotionally connected to the brand as I saw the ad over and over. I actually paid attention to their other ads, noticed the women's magazine sponsored and full of all P & G products that came in the mail with all the female Olympic athletes, and noticed the P & G coupon insert in the Sunday paper. As a marketer, they took advantage of their sponsorship and extended the brand message outside of television with call-to-action items to sell products and provide measurement.
As I look at the brands represented by P & G, I was a customer before the sponsorship. Now, I'm a just a little more loyal to the brand and in awe of their marketing masterminds.
Comments:
I totally agree. P&G hit a home run with this campaign. By contrast, Cialis wins the raspberry award for its view of women in an ad that ran during the Olympics.
They had a commercial in which the woman gets to take a brake from doing the man's laundry to oblige his, er, urges. Don't turn her on by helping her with the laundry or anything, buddy. I give this sexist bit of advertising a thumbs down for its big step backward.
Posted by Paul K
