There is a saying that nothing causes failure more than success.
In the world of business and marketing this is very true, and a really big watch out. The problem is that it is very hard to avoid it.
Imagine the situation. You have been brave and bold and run a new campaign, it was out of the box, different and created a big buzz both with your peers and also the consumer. And it worked.
What happens next. You try and copy it. You try and replicate it.
You try and though stick as closely as you can to the breakthrough thing. You forget that the reason it worked was it was different, bold, breakthrough and challenging. Beware success, make sure that you think carefully about what was the heart of success.
An example for me is the Barclycard instant swipe card thing (unfortunately I can never remember the name despite seeing the ad a lot).
They created an impactful and striking and unusual ad where a man goes on a water slide from the office, buying things along the way with his swipe card. It showed the speed of the transaction. And he bought a few things.
So did they do next?
Made a clearly very expensive, technically clever ad where a man goes to work on a roller coaster (and actually only buys one thing). It is all about a rollercoaster, technical effects, and forgets the product. It is predictable and not clever, the first ad was a surprise and unexpected. But moving to a roller coaster was predictable and obvious. Surely the smart thing would be to find an unexpected scenario where people were buying things fast.
Barclaycard Rollercoaster TV ad (click here to watch on YouTube)
Barclaycard Water Slide TV ad (click here to watch on YouTube)
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