If you have not seen this 60 second TV spot, take a moment:
I don’t know about you, but the “warm fuzzy” that I felt after seeing this spot for the first time was very powerful and inspirational. This is an orange juice company! They squeeze fruit into a carton and sell it! Do they substantially improve the quality of people’s lives….even save lives on a daily basis? (No…that would be our industry). What they do offer up in an engaging manner is simply a promise of a brighter morning. Brilliant.
“But….where are the key messages for the product? This could be for any orange juice company! Why are they better than the competition?”
I am sure you have heard all of these objections when evaluating new concepts for your branded product or corporate campaign. In my view, these are the sort of objections that often can limit our thinking and guide marketers down the blazing path of mediocrity. This Ad is one element of an integrated campaign. It’s job is to engage, invite, and to create buzz.
OK, so you can probably tell I am impressed and frustrated all at the same time. What can we learn from this campaign?
My Key Learnings:
1) Create an Emotional Brand Connection. Tropicana offers brighter mornings. Everyone can relate to it. Our industry’s products change the lives of Canadians for the better on a daily basis. Yet, emotion is often traded for more rational and scientific messages. Putting the obvious regulatory hurdles aside, I think we still can do better.
2) People Gravitate to Stories. A story was told in this commercial. It was a uniquely Canadian one, and it captured the interest of thousands. (Believe it or not, the story was first told on Facebook..so the TV spot really was chapter 2). And there are more chapters….just check out the Tropicana site on Facebook. Over 36,000 fans and counting….. What I find really impressive is the ongoing narrative about the commercial shoot, not only from the company, but also from people that witnessed the event first hand. People added their own chapters to the story by uploading their own photos and videos.
Our industry has wonderful stories to tell of triumph over suffering, improvements in quality of life, and of life-saving therapies. Better yet, we can offer people the opportunity to share their own personal stories with others impacted by the same disease.
3) Build a “Tribe*”…build a Brand. Tropicana created a community of people that were engaged by the same powerful experience. To that end, do you think the 36,000 plus Tropicana fans on Facebook (or the thousands they told the story to) are more likely to pick up a Tropicana carton off their grocer’s shelf versus a competitive brand? I do. (*Check out Seth Godin’s “Tribes” for more inspiration on this topic.)
What do you think?
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