Welcome to the first installment of Marketing Monday, my weekly column on all things graphics, design, marketing, and anything else related. Each week I will focus on something I think is clever or just something I think designers and customers need to keep in mind.
This week I want to talk about Oreo’s social media campaign and their new Ad ascetics. I’m sure you’ve seen a picture of an Oreo similatr to the one posted here. It’s clean, simple, a white background with the cookie transformed into a symbol for an idea, in this case it’s the earth (north america centric) to celebrate the first flight around the world on September 28th. The look of the ad is eye-catching, since an Oreo cookie is iconic they are using their product as the main focus. It’s clever seeing the orea as different symbols.
The company hit a bit of controversy with their Pride ad on June 25th, an Oreo cookie with seven layers of creme, all layers a different color of the rainbow to celebrate Pride Day. Thanks to that controversy Oreo’s facebook page has earned 27 million likes and those 27 million people get a daily image of an Oreo in a different symbol.
People are entertained by the concept, this supports the concept of the Advertising Contract often mentioned on the Age of Persuasion, a CBC radio show dedicated to advertising history. The Advertising Contract is an implied agreement between the consumer and the marketer that in exchange for being exposed to ads, you the consumer must be entertained. It’s an implied contract that began in the 20’s (listen to the linked episode for the full story) and is often forgotten today. Thanks to TiVo, DVR, PVR, Video on Demand, Music on Demand, Netflix, and many other sources of media that limit advertising, the consumer can skip all the ads they want. To get people to pay attention to your ads, you need to entertain them, you need to show them something special. Oreo is doing this, oreo is in 27 million people’s daily lives thanks to their daily ad campaign that is hitting every area of interest.
I recommend you take a look at Oreo’s facebook page, check out their website The Daily Twist, see them on Twitter, They hit up tumblr, they are even on Pintrest, they are everywhere, entertaining people and encouraging them to share their ads. We as consumers are doing this, because we have a bit of nostalgia for the cookie, but more because the cookie is pushing our favorite areas of interest.
How can you use the example of Oreo’s campaign in your social media campaign? How can this be used by smaller companies and organizations? Keep them entertained. Leave your suggestions in the comments section.
