Most of Marketing Campaigns are pretty bland in content and execution expending millions and millions all in pursuit of acquiring customers. For any organization to make a successful marketing campaign, it takes more than what was necessary earlier. How can they succeed amidst all the things done as marketing nowadays is always the Key Question. The article proposes 3 principles which can help to design a killer marketing campaign.
For this article, let's look at the underlying principles of one of the most successful campaigns in 2015 "Volvo -The greatest interception" by Grey advertising. There is a chance you might have seen this 2015 campaign. Nevertheless, watch this video for the campaign summary: VOLVO Interception - Case Film
VOLVO Interception - Case Film from Agency on Vimeo.
This one campaign has multiple insights on Strategy, Branding, Activation, Digital Advertising, Social media Marketing. This campaign made Volvo XC60's sales jump by 70% YoY over the previous quarter and that is a killer of an achievement for a twitter centric, PR assisted, staged giveaway campaign.
While there are many articles discussing the details & execution, the focus here is to deconstruct this campaign to understand the fundamental principles behind the campaign that made it work.
1. Start with the “Why of your organization”
The best place to start your campaign is from the Why of your brand. Volvo USA totally resonated with Simon Sinek's golden circle principle in the design of their campaign. Why refers to "Why your organization exist?/ What's the purpose,cause or belief of your organization?". In case you want to explore more on this, check here.
“People have always been at the heart of Volvo, inspiring the products and experiences we create. We want to bring that mindset front and center and celebrate the people and passions that inspire us and our customers.”
- Bodil Eriksson, EVP, Product, Brand, Marketing & Communications, Volvo USA
The above quote from Bodil clearly establishes the Why of their organization, they wanted to communicate this through their campaigns. Many organizations suffer with misalignment from their why and the campaigns giving a different view untrue to their original purpose. Synchronous alignment between overall purpose and the campaigns they make is super critical for successful executions in campaigns marketing.
2. Make your campaign a “Purple Cow”
Purple Cow - Seth Godin's groundbreaking concept from his excellent book "Purple Cow", simply means that when you pass by a herd of cows, if you see a purple cow you have to tell someone about it because it is so different. Purple Cow by definition is something that forces you to talk and share about it.
“Car brands are telling the same story to the same people over and over again”
- Peter Ternes, Senior Communications Strategist General Motors
This Volvo's campaign was so different in every way by communicating a different story. When every other auto maker was spending millions ($4.5 million for 30 seconds of airtime in 2015 SuperBowl) to place similar looking ads during Superbowl, Volvo was the purple cow. It made it about people. It made it so different by designing an staged give away. It ambushed the competitors by diverting the viewers to the second mobile screen via Twitter during competitor ad spots. Every aspect of it was different.
3. Make it “Emotionally & Relationally Personal”
“ ”..Man is a bundle of relations, a knot of roots, whose flower and fruitage is the world...”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
In SuperBowl which is a classic mass marketing platform, Volvo made it personal by asking viewers to tweet #VolvoContest nominating their loved one during the airing of competitors. Volvo also made the viewers to give a reason for why their nominee deserve the car in a form post their tweet. While their competitors are spending millions to get into the viewers minds, Volvo made it into the viewers' heart by making the activity a thoughtful one adding more meaning than a mere self nomination would do.
In a give away contest, they made it more personal by bringing a slice of their emotional & relational lives. This stands true to the Why of their brand of putting people front and centre.
Just to sum up, the reason why it worked is fundamentally the three principles beautifully executed by all the support it needed. This is beautifully captured by Bodil Eriksson's quote about marketing campaigns.
“Be Bold. Be Different. Keep people at the center of everything we do.”
-Bodil Eriksson, Executive Vice President,Volvo Cars of North America
References:
1. http://grey.com/global/work/key/new-york-volvo-interception/id/5647/#theinsight
2. https://www.adweek.com/agencyspy/grey-ny-stages-the-greatest-interception-ever-for-volvo/79562
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