How the job market has changed for academic grads (plus a bit of viral)

Please head on over to the excellent blog of my online friend Michael Palmer:

http://graduatejobhuntblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/guest-blog-breaking-into-marketing.html

in order to read my guest post about my perspective on the challenging job market for those of us wanting a career in marketing, without a related degree.

We've got a bit of a challenge on our hands, but it's all about making the best of a bad situation! Watch out for some future posts about how I've personally gone about tackling this obstacle.

Annnd, a bit of marketing for you...

Today I came across this online video "Smart thief caught on camera". Intrigued, I pressed play to find out just how smart this thief could be.

OH WOW!

Such a great reveal at the end; the selling point is effortlessly conveyed in an instance of great entertainment.

Youtube can act as an excellent platform by which brands can put themselves out among the public sphere and become a more integrated part of our everyday lives. Videos like this one represent the viral type - that are so entertaining you would pass them on to others - regardless of whether you recognise the marketing ploy behind it or not. Indeed, I feel that the fact the reveal shows that it was a marketing ploy all along actually forms a large part of its appeal - there is entertainment value in passing this on knowing that it will intrigue your friends until they find out that they've been watching an ad. Then these friends will pass it on in order to become masters of that same tricking experience.

Two of my favey interests combined - art and marketing. Arteting? Markarteting? Doesn't quite work...but ANYWAY, here it is :)

What an amazing piece of art; I get vertigo tummy looking at the people working out over the 'ravine'. Also it's so great that they broke the two records for longest and largest 3D street art after they heard about the rival art.

I bet the event was amazing - obviously the build up as the painting was happening generated a lot of buzz and then on the day people were invited to take part in the fitness programme (see the little kid at 1 minute 25 secs!), followed by the viral nature of this Youtube video. Only thing is I'm not too sure what Reebok Crossfit is exactly... It's not obvious on the Youtube video or in the description. Well I'm sure that it was made obvious at the event and that there are other videos about that are focused on that bit. I hope!

How Old Spice is keeping it New Spice

Like many, I was a big fan of the Old Spice adverts when they came out. Their captivating, humourous and memorable ads were original and created what you might call a phenomenon - I don't have the market data, but I think it's safe to say that there was a definite buzz around the brand and the campaign. The marketing activity that followed is a testament to this...

The first to follow the tv adverts came a viral campaign starring Isaiah Mustafa ('The Man Your Man Could Smell Like' from the TV ads).

"Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into twitter, or maybe the Old Spice man shows up", tweeted @OldSpice to get the ball rolling.

Via various social media channels, fans were encouraged to put their previously unanswerable questions to the Old Spice Guy, and hundreds of Youtube videos followed containing his Old Spice-inspired answers, from revealing his hobbies of "building environmental damns and log skiing chalets", to an offer to adopt one particular fan.

I really enjoyed these videos (along with pretty much everyone); I thought that it was a great way to engage consumers in the brand. For a product that has most likely spent recent years on the bottom shelf in Morrisons, its elevation to top of the viral video chart is a mighty transition. It certainly comprised a cheap option to maximise return on investment, if the reactions on the blogosphere are anything to go by:

• On day 1 the campaign received almost 6 million views - more views than Barack Obama's victory speech;
• The Old Spice YouTube channel became the all-time most viewed channel; 
• The Old Spice Twitter following increased 2700%;
• Facebook fan interaction was up 800%.

Sales also increased massively - a huge success for Old Spice! But hold your horses (especially your gleaming white horse Isaiah), as the brand's next move is, well, questionable. 

For me, this falls a bit flat. I feel like the script is nowhere near as strong as that which first enticed us to desire that our other half smell like a man, man. The randomness is no longer novel, it's just hard to follow what's being said and quite irritating. As Urlesque blog put it:

"Dear Old Spice guy...your performance was flawless, as usual, but the dialogue sounded like it was written by a reporter suffering from a bad migraine, or someone who just read the Wikipedia article on Dadaism for the first time. Can this ad take me something something distant cultures? Yes. No. I don't know. Is this really an advertisement, or is it just an experiment to see whether viewers even pay attention to the words coming out of your handsome face?"

It feels like we've moved away from light-hearted and whimsical to desperate. This is emphasised even more so by the recent experiential campaign of a University tour, which gave 'lucky' fans the opportunity to be photographed sitting on a white horse, just like their Old Spice idol. Is it just me who thinks this is really weak? (Although for the record I do admire the charity aspect where the tour supported Movember activity).

The popularity of the original tv ad was both a blessing and a curse for the creators, Wieden and Kennedy. How to continue to successfully market the brand, without falling victim to accusations of milking the comedy cow? Introducing a new character, as they decided to do, seems a risky business given Isaiah's huge fan base, but they played up to this fan loyalty by creating a rival character, one who was jealous of the uber-manly Isaiah. Fabio differs from Isaiah and acts in a typical bad guy fashion, but still exuberates the original alpha male qualities of the brand.

 

In addition, the battle element utilised the power of viral marketing, inciting huge numbers of web users to have their say about the new face of the brand and further perpetuate the brand in the minds of the public, with measurable results of engagement: the campaign drew more than 53,000 YouTube comments and 68,000 new Facebook fans. 

Bearing in mind that their previous successes equal an increasingly difficult challenge to keep communications 'spicy' (forgive me, it had to be done), it will be interesting to see what W&K will come up with next for Old Spice.