Let’s talk about this ad by Ocean Spray.
Well. 👏 Done. 👏 Ocean Spray. 👏
pic.twitter.com/PDCsEtPG5A— Kevin C. Whelan 🦕 (@kevincwhelan) November 27, 2020
As you can see by my tweet, I support the audacity.
The thing about marketing is, if you play it safe, you’ll get safe returns at best. Or, at worst, you’ll become irrelevant and go out of business.
But if you double down on your best customers or clients—to the detriment of being attractive to most others—you run the chance of becoming beloved to the people who really matter.
An aspiration worth striving for, with significant upside potential if you choose wisely.
It’s the same concept with many brands recently taking “risks” by choosing sides on social issues, like Nike did with the Kaepernick campaign for example.
Which, by the way, despite threats of boycotts and backlash, netted the company $163 million in earned media, a $6 billion brand value increase, and a 31% boost in sales.
If you don’t put anyone off with your marketing, you’re definitely not having anyone fall in love with your brand either.
As somebody once said, and I’m not sure who, “Love me or hate me, there’s no money in the middle.”