Posts tagged advertising
Chocolate Milk is Good for Kids?
Feb 4th
That’s right. According to the new ad campaign from Garelick Farms for its TrueMoo chocolate milk (http://www.trumoo.com/ ) it is. Check it out for yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN5S0fCF5rY. The ad certainly grabbed my attention, but probably not for the reasons they wanted.
From www.garelickfarms.com
The ad features typical child behavior; boredom with anything nutritious but excited about chocolate milk. A confused mother is saved by her guardian angel (ala the Animal House classic treatment) who lets her know it’s okay to give the boy what he wants because…”hey, it’s good for ‘em…you betcha’”. Her conscience’s devil even appears to concur. By the way; what ever happened to Tom Hulce?
The pitch: TruMoo is not high in fructose syrup, the evil elixir parents battle in soda and some juice drinks, so it’s a healthy choice. They also casually add that it’s “just enough” sugar for a tasty snack.
At a time when consumers are looking for socially conscious behavior from their brands, TrueMoo is telling you chocolate is good for kids. When childhood obesity has become a national epidemic and everyone from parent groups to pediatricians agrees we need to focus on changing kids habits and behaviors, TrueMoo is telling you chocolate is good for kids. At the height of the Networked Era, when customers like me can broadcast our dissatisfaction with the click of the mouse, TrueMoo is telling you chocolate is good for kids.
Look, I’m a parent, I get it; children can violently refuse the healthy options we present them, and they’re eating habits can be very fickle. Our daughter is apparently the only child that doesn’t like those Graduate puffs (I’m currently looking to offload a three-pack we purchased at BJ’s Wholesale Club). Parents try all sorts of tricks to get their kids to eat the essentials (including using chocolate milk). But it’s the consumers’ choice to cut these corners in desperation – and no product company should be developing a campaign around the concept.
Garelick Farms claims it responded to “consumer demand” when it “removed high-fructose corn syrup and replaced it with 100% natural sugar.” I doubt that the parents of obese children made this request. Masking an effort to increase product sales as an attempt to be “customer-centric” is a fast way to diminish your brand’s reputation.
As for the assertion that TrueMoo has “just enough sugar for a tasty snack”; that’s based on the premise that the drink will be one of the few snacks the child has all day. In reality, the families and children that will embrace this product are not those who are currently making disciplined and healthy choices on a daily basis. I’m not saying chocolate milk is a gateway food that leads to Boston-cream donuts, but it’s a slippery slope
Two thumbs down on this product campaign from me. You tell me if I’m being overly-critical.
Lost in the Woods
Jan 1st
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No one was truly surprise when Accenture officially dropped its sponsorship agreement with Tiger Woods. Were they? Backing away from the now tainted athlete-celebrity was the only reasonable move. Unfortunately it ended one of the most successful, and few, B2B marketing campaigns that leveraged the persona of a public figure.
Accenture-Tiger Woods ad
Consumer marketers get to have all the fun. The intersection of their audience and products allows them a creative license not available to B2B marketers. Super Bowl ads, campy YouTube vignettes, and of course, celebrity/athlete endorsements. Normally, when a celebrity/athlete falls out of favor it’s not a problem for the sponsors, they just find a replacement from the stock of former A-listers looking for extra income.
Not a luxury for B2B. Very rarely has a public figure come along whose occupation and personal approach has been such a match for corporate services/products. Tiger Woods was a rarity. Sure, golf lends itself to many Intellectual-capital driven businesses (calling all consultants), the skills required for success on the course can be translated into the skills needed for success in the boardroom (after some clever messaging), but no other golf professional has enough notoriety to provide any value to a brand by association.
No other popular sport translates so well to business, and no other athlete’s public image is as appealing in the same way. Tiger was it.
Accenture had done a fabulous job of creating a truly integrated campaign with the icon. Originally designed to support the launch of its new High Performance Business strategy, the campaign expanded and became highly visible, with effective messaging across multiple channels. I don’t think you could travel to a major media market without seeing an Accenture/Tiger billboard in the airport, or pick up a business magazine without seeing one of the print ads. By all brand-awareness building metrics it should be measured a success.
I can’t imagine the costs of unbundling from the Tiger campaign. Buts it’s not Accenture’s loss alone. It will most likely be a long time before we see a public figure effectively partner with a B2B firm.
