Marketing is always changing. From print media to online viral youtube advertisements, marketing has certainly evolved. We are exposed to hundreds, or even thousands of advertisements while we carry on our daily activities. Having been living in a generation where commercials are a common part of our daily lives, I was pleasantly surprised to see a new type of advertising that I have never seen before. I discovered this new trend of “Co-Branding” on the “Adweek” blog.
Link to “Ad Week” Blog: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/old-spice-crashes-commercials-other-pg-brands-137965
In the blog, they posted two commercials featuring Charmin and Bounce. The commercials start off normal with a quiet atmosphere about a women informing viewers about the product. Then suddenly, the famous “Old Spice” man crashes in promoting the body spray for men. The article states that all three brands are Procter & Gamble products, hence the name Co-Branding. The blog also mentions that the videos are now viral on Youtube. I think that this is a great way to implement social media, because in class it was mentioned that social media is essentially a free method of advertising. When an advertisement goes viral, it reaches audiences outside of its target market. The company is able to gain a lot of attention and exposure at virtually no cost, saving money and hopefully increasing revenue.
I think that an important concept of Co-Branding is that the brands are from the same company, therefore they are not intentionally “battling each other out” like mac vs pc or pepsi vs coke. Co-branding is about integrating two brands from the same company to promote one another in one interactive advertisement. I think that this type of commercial is particularly memorable and intriguing because of their witty way of using the element of surprise. I would never expect a Charmin or Bounce commercial to end up as an Old Spice commercial.
Co-branding has its benefits of allowing a company to promote two products at once and intriguing the viewer with an unexpected twist. However, can there be a downfall? It seems like in this particular commercial, there is one dominating product – Old Spice. Perhaps the commercial will fail to promote the other brands like Charmin or Bounce as much as the marketers hope to. Because the concept of co-branding is so new, there is not much information about the success rate. I think that this advertisement will open many doors and ideas to other companies to produce more co-branding advertisements and personally I am very excited to see what they come up with!