Marketing
Making Sense of #motrinmoms
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 11/17/2008 - 09:39Recently, Motrin created an advertisement which started off with “Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion. In theory, it seems like a great idea.” It continues with, “Supposedly it’s a real bonding experience. They say that babies carried close to the bod tend to cry less than others, what about me?” The voice-over goes on to say the pain is worth it because “it totally makes me look like an official mom so if I look tired and crazy, people will understand why.” All of this is part of Motrin’s trademarked campaign slogan, “We feel your pain”.
Mommy bloggers were in an uproar and it was the top topic on Twitter for much of the weekend. This has resulted in a predictable backlash with people asking if that many people can have PMS on the same day or we there wasn’t more outrage about a bill to combat child pornography barely passed.
I’m not an ad exec, nor a psychologist, but I have a few different thoughts to share on this. First, I should note that the doctors with one of the highest premiums for malpractice insurance is obstetricians. People will put up with a lot of pain, but if you mess with their kids, well there is an old saying that Hell has no fury like a woman scorned. Well, there is a much worse fury, that of parent whose feels that someone or something is getting in the way of them nurturing and protecting their offspring.
Another tack on this is this whole, “we feel your pain.” Have you ever tried to comfort someone who is suffering? Perhaps they are simply depressed. Perhaps they are morning the loss of a loved one. Perhaps they are suffering from some other type of grief. Telling that person that you know exactly what their feeling, or suggesting they should just take a pill and snap out of it; not only is that not particularly effective, it can be down right dangerous.
So yes, it would be great if the outrage and indignation of #motrinmoms could be redirected to outrage and indignation about our broken health care system, about poverty, and issues of child care, and many other related issues, but mocking a mother’s parenting choices hits closer to home than any of this.
Now, let’s take another step back and look at this in terms of what is going on in advertising, marketing and society. Last year, I attended a couple advertising and marketing conferences where the speakers dismissed Twitter as being inconsequential. Motrin has already started sending out apology emails. The website is down. Many hypothesize that it won’t be back up until they get through their crisis meeting this morning.
Whether or not you believe that a lot of people should or shouldn’t have gotten pissed off about the advertisement, a lot of people did get pissed off, and I’ve always thought that a number one rule of advertising and marketing was to not piss off your customers.
Beyond that, the customers are well connected thanks to sites like Twitter and various mommy blogging sites. Smart advertising checks to see how the ad will play with a focus group before releasing it into the wild. Really smart advertising understands that media is a 24/7 phenomenon and you need people standing by to address a crisis as it happens.
In the old days, you could do that by having a public relations person staying in touch with traditional media outlets. Things have changed. Now, you need community savvy people staying in touch with online communities, like Twitter. Hollywood2020 has a report about contacting the ad agency responsible for the debacle and no one at the ad agency even know about the online storm.
Stepping even further back, the choices we make about how we parent are all part of the culture wars, and at least one blog has started talking about this as another skirmish in these wars. This is another aspect worth following.
So, why am I so interested in this? This is a fascinating study in the role of social media. It is fascinating to watch how this traverses the Motrin website, twitter, blogs, YouTube and on into traditional media. It will be a case study for years to come, and you can participate right now.
I did my part. Regular readers of my blog will have seen my parody of the Motrin ad. If not, scroll down and take a look.
My Motrin Ad Parody for #motrinmoms
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 11/16/2008 - 21:42
After all the discussions today on Twitter about Motrin's horrible ad, I figured I would make my parody on it. I whipped it together quickly loosely transcribing their text, and recording it on my laptop (poor audio quality), and slapping on some images. Enjoy!
My response to #motrinmoms
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 11/16/2008 - 20:17The Twitterstorm dujour is about Motrin’s new online video. I’ve loosely transcribed the video:
Posting videos online seems to be in fashion.
I mean in theory it’s a great idea
There’s YouTube, Facebook, Blip.tv and who knows what else they’ve come up with
Supposedly it’s a real bonding experience
They say that customers you reach via social media tend to complain less than others
But what about you?
Do Ad execs that fail at social media cry more than those who don’t?
These things put a ton of strain on your agency.
Did I mention your reputation?
Sure, you’ll put up with the pain, because it’s a good kind of pain.
It’s for your client.
Plus it totally makes you look like you’re a hip agency.
So if you’re ads look tired and crazy, people will understand why.
Motrin, we feel your pain.
#DPAC - A Narrative
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Tue, 10/28/2008 - 08:53I wandered through the caverns of Grand Central Station after walking the canyons of New York City. I’ve seen a constant stream of billboard and people. I have engaged with none, and as the train leaves the station, soon all that will be left will be a blur of them. Perhaps it provides a good framework for understanding the Digital Publishing and Advertising Conference I have attended today.
The first session was about simplifying social media for agencies and publishers. Like food that is too highly refined, it felt like any nutritional value had been simplified out of the presentation. The woman speaking seemed to be selling her platform for hosted white label social media sites. People asked their questions about to how make sufficient revenues and how to quantify the results. The discussion came and left like the constant stream of people on the street.
The second speaker was Len Lauer, Executive Vice President of Qualcomm. He spoke about Qualcomm’s vision of the future; WiMax, GSM, Fourth Generation communications and the role of chips in all of this. He spoke about the convergence of computers, cellphones and consumer electronics. He described items available in Japan that should become available in the states in twelve to eighteen months.
He described the embedded chips that would handle a multitude of communications protocols, the goal of low powered chips and moving from TFT/LCD based screens that draw a lot of energy to new reflective screens using significantly less energy. He spoke of competing with Intel and various acquisitions Qualcomm has made.
Exploring the Tiara
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 22:47At the risk of ruining a good story by explaining it, I want to talk a little bit about the Tiara.
The Backstory
First, let me give you the history. You will notice on the right side of my page an EntreCard. EntreCard is a community website where members drop cards on each other. Each time you drop a card on someone, or someone drops a card on you, you get an EntreCard Credits. These credits can be used to buy advertisements on other people’s websites, objects from the EntreCard shop, or can be bought and sold.
There is also a community forum, where people talk whatever they want. The blogger who writes Designs by Reese commented about being on vacation for a week and seeing the price of advertisements on her blog plummet as well as her ranking as a card dropper. In less than half an hour, her advertising rates were back up to a respectable rate, and she bragging about wearing a tiara and wondering where her scepter was.
eyespi20.com urged her to calm down. Everything is fine, and wondered where Debbie was. Debbie has a blog, Wisdom Hypnosis and often comments in the forum with helpful suggestions about remaining calm and reducing stress in one’s life. Debbie joined in by commenting about losing a tiara she had when she moved, but about how it was one of the best moves she had made.
Reese came back and commented that ‘not many people can pull off the tiara look’. I joined the fun and admitted that I probably can’t pull off the tiara look anymore. People on EntreCard mostly know me by the card that I have up, which pictures my bald head and gray beard. Debbie commented that she would pay to see me in a tiara. Eyespi said she would pony up 1000 EntreCard credits. Debbie picked the word pony and suggested I should appear with a pony. Reggy at fragileheart said she would join in.
Fiona’s riding lesson was this morning, so I told everyone I would pose with a pony while wearing a tiara. Around the house, I tried to find an Tiara. I was hoping I could find one of my daughter’s dress-up tiaras from when she was younger. Like Debbie’s tiara, I suspect that Fiona’s tiaras may have gotten lost in our move. So, I ended up wearing the tiara that my wife wore when we got married.
The picture received several nice comments in the forum as well as on my blog post.
What does this tell us
Lighten up
I'm gonna soak up the sun
I'm gonna tell everyone
To lighten up (I'm gonna tell 'em that)
Well, perhaps the most important part is to not take things too seriously. Somehow, I can imagine Debbie offering that advice as she helps people find calmness and happiness in her hypnosis practice. I think this is particularly important to a wide range of bloggers.
I've got a crummy job
It don't pay near enough
To buy the things it takes
To win me some of your love
Over on EntreCard, there are a lot of bloggers that spend all their time writing about how to make money online. I must admit, I find most of their blog entries dreadfully dull. Granted, I don’t make much money online, but that isn’t really what I’m all about.
My friend the communist
Holds meetings in his RV
I can't afford his gas
So I'm stuck here watching tv
Likewise, many of my friends in the political blogging world are on their way to Denver for the Democratic National Convention. I’ll write more about this later, but I find many of the more serious political blogs also dreadfully dull. I can’t imagine that they get many people, other than those already sharing their views to make it through their blog posts.
Build community
C'mon people now,
Smile on your brother
Ev'rybody get together
Try and love one another right now
Beyond that, successful websites are about building community. EntreCard does a good job of that. Other tools do good jobs of that. You need to tie them all together. What matters is the mesh of social media, and not simply just a blog. I think that is where a lot of bloggers as well as companies trying to get their message out online make mistakes. They focus on too small a community, trying to build bonding social capital instead of bridging social capital, or they end up being just a broadcast oriented site.
But that is a different topic that I want to explore more in coming posts.
So, check out EntreCard and related sites. Find a broadbased community where you can talk, listen and have fun, and if you do something crazy online, let me know.
