Once Upon a Market
Whenever I think about some of the great commercials I’ve seen, this one from Tim Hortons always springs to mind:
In today’s day and age, information is consistently broken down into bite sized portions. Marketing is reduced to taglines and blurbs on Facebook pages- but is that really effective? After reading Drew McLellan’s blog post for the Content Marketing Intitute, I’m starting to think it isn’t. Drew argues that “We buy based on our emotions and justify the purchase with the facts offered. But we very rarely buy on facts alone.” He cites campaigns such as the Dunkin Donuts “Fred the Baker” commercials and the Folger’s Coffee “Peter Comes Home for Christmas” advertisement as examples of storytelling marketing that provide a more subtle, nuanced marketing than today’s ‘just the facts’ approach.
Upon reflection, I have to say I agree with McLellan. The ad campaigns I remember and appreciate evoke an emotional response in the viewer- and those emotions can come from very unexpected sources, like this 2002 Ikea ad which won a Grand Clio and the Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tetOSMilRKg
Some may argue that, in today’s world, this kind of storytelling is obsolete, but I think the connection it establishes between the consumer and the brand is a rapport that can be invaluable. As McLellan suggests, I would love to see storytelling integrated into today’s digital media tools- perhaps as in this Google ad?
Something to think about.
Some links for reference:
http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/183589/Watch-Crispin-Porters-Ikea-Film-Grand-Prix-winner/
http://www.boardsmag.com/articles/online/20030522/clios.html