Ambient Advertising
Marketing Ideas: A 3 Step Formula
It’s a theory I have and maybe its a tad over simplistic. It’s not something that I would knowingly subscribe to but it demonstrates the power of influences and influencers, even subconsciously, upon our output. And looking back at most marketing campaigns it’s not a theory that can be easily discounted.
The three steps are…
1. Find a marketing campaign or an idea that already exists that you like
2. Re-engineer its content and context for your purpose
3. Add something new, however slight.
Unfortunately many campaigns fail to complete step 3 and end up with a carbon copy of something that existed before. I’m guessing Step 1 might be the most controversial as it’s basically ripping off someone else’s idea, but that’s also the easy part the hard part comes in steps 2 and 3.
Jarvis Cocker once said that every note and combination of notes has already been played, the originality in music comes from the lyrics. And it’s in steps 2 and 3 that marketers can add their lyrics, or voice, to create a better match between idea and context than the original idea and original context. There are examples of mismatched ideas and context that fail to hit a groove and connect with consumers. (examples fail me right now but I shall try to add some later, or if anyone has any feel free to add them below – thanks)
Step 3 is where many fall down. So many ad’s out there with little originality that are just straight rip off’s of something else. A lot of originality is to be found in how the message is communicated. Thats probably why I think ideas that are emerging from the Guerrilla and Ambient marketing genre’s are generally fresher and more original, although as these ideas are designed for targeted high impact low volume scenarios (ie. not designed for mass consumption as they are location specific), the communication method is often repeated and used in new contexts in new territories. Step 3 is also facilitated by the use of new technology, again saying something in new ways. Look at this Augmented Reality post, it starts with a basic novelty element where the new technology is the wow factor, without any thought given to how meaningful the Avatar AR product is to the consumer beyond that aspect. However, with each new example there’s something new added to the AR that increases interactivity with the consumer. Interactivity is the most effective tool in marketing.
Even in previous digital campaigns you can see how firms are adding constantly to their past efforts. Look at how Cadbury’s Creme Egg developed their marketing between 2007 and 2009, the first year was simplistic and the second was developed a little further. But by the time 2009 arrived the Creme Egg campaign had far greater depth than 2007, and was designed to draw in consumers each step of the way with new twists and developments.
So my 3 step formula, overly simplistic or actually useful?
There’s many examples of great ideas on this blog you could start here.
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