Evian Roller Skating Baby Video-A Marketing Gimmick
Posted: 11/18/2009 4:22:05 PM by
Carrie Urban Kapraun | with 0 comments
Marketing gimmicks are alive and well and appear to be working for some brands. In Lesa’s recent blog covering the ANA Annual Conference, Eric Schmidt, chairman and CEO of Google, spoke about Evian’s commercial/video featuring babies on roller skates.
He stated that on YouTube.com, the videos had received 30 million views. The campaign does make great use of the web and online content includes interviews with the babies, clips from casting for the video and Facebook pages for the babies. The campaign has certainly caught on and reportedly has delivered business results for Evian. The video is insanely cute and very viral, but at its core, it is a gimmick.
In my mind there is a very loose association between babies on roller skates and premium priced mineral water from the French Alps. I understand that the campaign’s position is “live young” and babies are certainly young, but to me it is a stretch.
In my opinion, any marketing campaign that inserts babies, cute furry animals, women (or men) in bikinis, any sort of character (e.g., Tony the Tiger, Mr. Clean) or products that tout “new and improved” is a gimmick. Musicians and entertainers are masters of gimmicks. Elvis, Kiss, Lady Gaga, David Bowie and Marilyn Mason-at least initially-relied on a gimmick to make a name. Admittedly, even my top 10 blog post was a gimmick.
The term gimmick has a negative connotation. Gimmicks can be considered cheap or in some cases deceptive. According to Merriam-Webster.com, a gimmick can be defined as “a trick or device used to attract business or attention” or “an ingenious and usually new scheme or angle.” Note that the definition of the word includes “trick,” “scheme” and “angle.” However, it also includes “ingenious” and “attract business or attention.”
Connotations aside, you have to wonder if gimmicks are a smart, proven way to market. Marketers put babies in their campaigns because simply put, people like and respond to babies. The right gimmick can tap into consumers’ emotions and can sometimes garner a lot of attention. Gimmicks can have entertainment value. Gimmicks are sometimes used as a way to tap into trends or movements such as the green or organic movements. For better or worse, it seems as if the poor state of the economy has become a marketing gimmick.
Some industry sources say to avoid gimmicks at all costs and others say to embrace them. Some thinking also indicates that smarter consumers are less likely to be persuaded by gimmicks. The web is a very useful tool for debunking gimmicks. For a gimmick to be effective it has to fit with the brand. For example, if Tiffany & Co. ran a BOGO campaign (a dream come true) it would likely have a positive short-term effect on sales, but it just doesn’t fit with the brand.
Specific to sponsorship, in addition to its online and television presence, Evian extended its “Live Young” campaign to its sponsored consumer events including the U.S. Open. Evian’s activation program included Evian booths at the Open which featured life-size signs of the roller skating babies.
Also, you may have seen the recently announced promotion for the New Jersey Nets called “10 is Enough.” The Nets are positioning their 10-game losing streak as a rallying cry for fans to purchase tickets. If it helps to sell tickets, why not?
What are your thoughts on gimmicks? Have you used gimmicks in your marketing or sponsorship program? What was the response? Was there any negative feedback, any positive outcomes?
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Filed under: entertainment, events, activation