As I watched the Olympics this season (along with millions of others), it struck me how the advertisers missed such a great opportunity to engage in a dialog with their customers vs. broadcast to them.
The thought came after seeing the J&J ad with the call to action to visit www.baby.com. As an advocate for customer communities, I immediately pulled out my laptop to see what they offered. By the URL I assumed it was a community for new parents. What I found was a set of web pages with interesting information on the development of babies from pregnancy to the early years and an opportunity to learn more about J&J products. Good start, but let’s take it to the next level.
But, what if the visitors could engage in a dialog with you and other parents in a more interactive fashion? The brand could build relationships that would increase brand affinity to the J&J brands. Parents could engage in designing new products or testing your marketing message to better understand what is relevant to your audience. Based on the interaction, what if you could communicate back to them in their own words and optimize the impact of your marketing messages. Don’t you think this would increase brand affinity, marketing effectiveness and word of mouth.
I love this article from Pete Blackshaw titled Marketers Love Conversation, Unless the Consumer Starts It. He points out how few companies offer the consumer a place to have a dialog. Continuing on my thoughts around the Olympic advertisers, I did some research of my own. None of these million dollar advertisers used this as an opportunity to engage in a dialog. ATT, Johnson & Johnson, Leapfrog, VW, Acuvue, or Geico.
Hello brand marketers, it’s time to engage in a dialog. Here’s a youtube clip that tells the story best, ironically called "the break-up". Do you want to “break-up” with your consumers or work on the relationship?
