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January 25, 2008
Brand manager as star
If you've worked in a big company filled with dozens of brand managers, you know how "the process" can often dictate the outcome, rather than the other way around.
Young, idea-filled brand managers sometimes work in slow motion treading the many layers of protection that surround marketing planning. The older the brand, the more traditional the tactics, be they celebrities or PR stunts, all of which are, of course, first tested via multiple focus groups.
Philadelphia Cream Cheese is a brand that's 128 years old. But this old-timer is breaking a few conventions. It's using social media to launch a new, low-fat version of its product.
Adam and Tyler are two of the product brand managers. Along with their boss, Ericka Gettman, they're using a blog and YouTube videos to document the launch campaign for their new product. The traditional model might say at this point, "Great idea. Now hire actors to portray the brand managers. Then focus-group test it!"
The threesome certainly aren't actors. While the early results may be a bit campy (and they call us regular folk "consumers" a bit too much), the idea of removing the one-way mirror and turning the marketing into a public beta helps us understand that real, everyday people are behind something ubiquitous.
The Philly Creme Cheese people have created an initial bridge between end-customer and brand to help close what has been traditionally been a significant gap.
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you sure those aren't actors? seems like an idea that PR/the ad agency dreamed up? not funny, and not interested.
Jackie,
I read and watched it all (not too tough since it's new), but I had the feeling I was being played. At one point I even thought of leaving them a suggestion, but as I watched more I thought I smelled an insincere rat... ?
That said, the two guys are cute enough yet normal enough, pleasant to watch, and if I were looking from outside "the business," maybe I'd follow them. Too much lingo, though. "Done and done." And done.
Cute as they are, if they're seriously trying to break through their biggest problem is going to be a terribly unsexy product, which other than trying to connect in a new(ish) way doesn't seem to have anything Remarkable (Seth-style) about it.
Regards,
Kelly
Maximum Customer Experience Blog
P.S. In case they're reading: Get out of the big-city thinking! Go to Austin, TX, Des Moines, IA, Wilmington, DE, Albany, NY, Aspen, CO, Worcester, MA--get some really different thinking in places where people still value each others' opinions, and maybe you can create something "viral."
P.P.S. Viral is very hard to plan.
Definitely sounded a bit too 'slick' on first glance. But I checked with Google, and both Tyler and Adam have LinkedIn profiles that mesh with the bios they have on the blog, so it seems they are 'real'. While I don't think the execution is perfect, I do agree with the point that I think Jackie is trying to make, in that it's a good sign that Kraft is experimenting with ways to bridge the gap between themselves and their customers. Many growing pains for all of us in this space.
Thanks for your comments Kelly and Mack.
I spoke to Ericka Gettman, Adam and Tyler's manager, before I wrote the post and I can say without a doubt that these guys are real Kraft brand managers.
I'm not saying that in the realm of any company using social media, that this is the most remarkable campaign I have ever seen. I agree that they are a bit over the top. What I liked about it was that we rarely see consumer-packaged good marketers out in front of the camera vs. behind the glass in focus groups.
'unsexy product' - unsexy products can often turn out to be the most sexy. Over here in the UK, unsexy Marmite is now fab. sexy.
Some of the best ads over here have been for 'unsexy products': Head Electric (Creature Comforts) and Unison (the Unison Bear). So 'unsexy' bring it on (doesn't have to be a problem at all).
Are you of a slovak decent?
