When first seeing the advertisement for Buckley’s Cough Syrup, I was struck by it’s frank and direct nature. Not being from Canada, I was unfamiliar with the Canadian brand and its advertising technique in using the slogan “It Tastes Awful. And It Works.”, but when first seeing their commercial on TV, I was immediately intrigued by their ingenious marketing strategy.
This unique marketing campaign is able to effectively position itself into the mind of the consumer using a variety of shocking slogans such as:
- People swear by it. And at it.
- How bad does it taste? That depends. How bad is your cough?
- Since 1919, we’ve been leaving Canadians with a bad taste in their mouths.
It is very different from other cough syrup brands like Dimetapp and Robitussin which market themselves by only focusing on the effectiveness of their products, while ignoring the universally known truth- cough syrups taste unpleasant. By embracing the nature of cough syrup, consumers are more liable to believe Buckley’s more positive claims. The psychological thought process of the consumer goes: “Well if they’re that brutally honest about the taste, why would they lie about it working?” Whether it is actually any more effective than other brands cough syrups is inconsequential- this marketing campaign renders the Buckley’s brand name extremely memorable, as I know from firsthand experience.
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