One of my favorite ad campaigns is the Kleenex 'Let It Out' campaign from a couple years back.
As you can see, they set up a couch, have a facilitator start a conversation with a random person on the street and hope they will open up and 'let it out'. If people do in fact 'let it out', then a box of Kleenex is conveniently and readily available for their use on the table in front of them.
This is a great strategy that Kleenex went for. In regards to facial tissue, most companies' ads punch the message that it's soft for your nose and kills 99.9% of bacteria. This campaign capitalizes on the other use of facial tissues: people use Kleenex to wipe tears.
Oh the sweet sweet taste of tears upon thine lips. And if beeth not on thine lips then letest the tears of yonder eyes soak into the soft pillowy comfort of Kleenex brand tissues.
It's a new and interesting way to go about marketing this product. They can tug on heart strings this way and not have to try and make blowing your nose alluring.
Now, I don't know if these encounters are real or not but I sure hope they are! The idea of people who don't know each other being able to meet, start talking and connect on such a deep level really makes me have optimism in humanity. The reactions and emotions we see throughout the commercial seem genuine and sincere. They provide the website at the end of the commercial for you to visit and see some of the stories people told. The website is no longer active and just redirects to another Kleenex site.
I visited this website and to my disappointment, it was not organized well nor executed effectively. I was expecting to click on a link and watch someone tell a story that might move me. What was waiting for me was a website that was hard to navigate around and stories that were told by paraphrased bullet points and short video clips. I wish the website would have been better! The ad interested me and made me go investigate their campaign only to be let down with dry eyes in the end.
All in all, this was an interesting and innovative idea from Kleenex. It's just too bad they didn't follow through with the website! (If you visited the website and found it to be easy and effective, let me know. Maybe I'm just dumb.)
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On a related note, Greenpeace "infiltrated" Kleenex's campaign to send out a message. Basically they are protesting Kleenex's use of 'old growth forests' and 'virgin wood fibre from boreal forests in northern Canada'. I don't know if this is true, though I'm sure it is to a certain extent, nor do I know much about this subject but I always find activist-type groups who do these stunts very immature.
They have no other means of getting their message effectively out there so they have to sabotage other's work. What they did was plant people to tell a fake story but then suddenly start protesting on camera about the issue at hand. It's completely disrespectful and childish. If you have a message to say, say it. Display facts and statistics to back up your message. If someone rebuts, rebut back. Don't resort to little stunts like these. If you convey your message clearly, concisely and with supporting evidence, people will be on your side. I get it though. They're trying to protect the environment. But sometimes conceited actions outshine the good-hearted intentions you have.
This remind me about the recent publicity stunt that the Yes Men pulled a couple weeks ago at the Nation Press Club in Washington, posing as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. You can read more about that on Melanie Lee Lockhart's blog.
Anyways, here's their little video of their escapade:
Immature? Justified? You decide!
See you soon!
I agree that it was a clever commercia! How long until we see one of the section one boys cry? Any bets?
ReplyDeleteI cry everytime I hand in a J assignment...
ReplyDeleteI cry anytime I see great ad copy!
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering how effective Greenpeace's action was-- how many people went on camera for fake interviews? It would have to be a really huge amount to cause any significant financial inconvenience to the campaign.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the action though. Clearly they did follow up the campaign sabotage with information pamphlets, the above video, and, I imagine, internet content.
This kind of action isn't for everyone, but simple letter-writing doesn't alwys do the trick, alone. Actions like these are part of a complete activism campaign.
It's important that there are some activists doing work like this, in my opinion, if only because it encourages discussion.
I think your point about Greenpeace's campaign being disrespectful to Kleenex is irrelevant-- activist groups don't do actions like these to be nice. They do it to make a point and shake up the status quo.
Good post!
Well, I don't think they caused but a minor inconvenience for Kleenex. Obviously all they had to do was stop filming and tell them to leave.
ReplyDeleteIt's still annoying.
I agree that it encourages discussion, but I never heard about it, so I imagine their attempts were not as successful as they wanted. And yes, I know that even if they changed 1 or 2 people's minds, then it was a success enough for them but still.
I'm all for the underdog, don't get me wrong. I guess it just bugs me that they have to bug other people to try and get their message out. It reminds me of a smaller sibling dancing around and yelling in the background because they wanna be filmed with the family video camera while it's someone ele's birthday.
Anyways, I guess if you do nag enough, people will change their ways. I read somewhere that Greenpeace has assaulted Kleenex on more than one occasion and it eventually lead Kleenex to alter some of their approaches. So hey, good job.
Thanks for the discussion, Sandy!