|
Or....take Door #4. Didja know that if you drop Mentos in a Diet Coke that it will result in a chemical reaction that shoots the candy up to 20 feet in the air, resembling a geyser? Of course you did....
So did Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz. The 2 guys created a wildly popular video of this phenomenon, so popular that it has currently been viewed over 4 million times, and has so far earned the pair over $25,000 in revenue from having it hosted on Revver.
Ah the beauty of the Internet. Grobe and Voltz are instant celebrities(and $25,000 richer), while Diet Coke and Mentos are getting a ton of free publicity. Thus the fairy tale ends and everyone lives happily ever after, right?
Not so much, it seems. Because you see, while Mentos is absolutely loving the free exposure, Diet Coke would just as soon all this extra attention go away. Even more confusing, Grobe and Voltz are also mad as hell.
Mentos' reaction? "We are tickled pink by it," says Pete Healy, vice president of marketing for the company's U.S. division.
As for Coke? "It's an entertaining phenomenon," said Coke spokeswoman Susan McDermott. "We would hope people want to drink [Diet Coke] more than try experiments with it." She adds that the "craziness with Mentos ... doesn't fit with the brand personality" of Diet Coke.
In other words, 'stop playing with our product, and start drinking it, dammit!'
Here's what I said in Part 2 of my 'Marketing With Your Community' series back in March: I prefer to think that our goal as marketers is to clear a path for the consumer. The consumer will eventually reach their destination with or without us, but the value we bring to the equation is to help the consumer reach their destination as effectively as possible. We can't clear a path if the consumer is leading us. And if we get too far ahead of the consumer, we lose the ability to accurately anticipate their path.
So we walk with the consumer. If the consumer leads, our ability to clear their path is diminished, which doesn't serve the best interest of the consumer. If the marketer leads, then our ability to understand the consumer is diminished, which means our ability to understand which path they will take is lessened. And that's not in their best interest either. It also doesn't help us.
Coke is breaking this marketing rule by trying to lead their community. When your community is enjoying your product, and having a positive experience with it, the LAST thing you do is come out AGAINST their behavior!
On the other hand, Mentos is walking WITH their community, and clearing a path for them. Mentos values the publicity their company has received so far as worth 'over 10 million'. Mentos saw that their community was enjoying their product, so they have now created a contest which will award prizes for the best 'geyser' video! So Mentos noticed that their community was enjoying their product, and 'cleared a path' so they could do so more easily.
A perfect example of what to, and what NOT to do when marketing with your community. Accept their direction, and walk with them to make it easier for them to reach their intended destination. Do NOT attempt to impede or stop their flow.
But what about Grobe and Voltz, who created the viral video that's so far earned them over $25,000? What's their beef? Well, it seems that the lads are mad as hell because 'bootleg' copies of their video are showing up on YouTube and other video-sharing sites, which means they are NOT earning revenue from these 'bootleg' copies.
As I said on the Garden, the boys need to worry about finding a way to EXTEND their 15 minutes of fame, not wasting their spotlight in a lawyer's office. The more sites showing their video, the more exposure for them. They need to leverage and ENCOURAGE the spreading of their video, as a way to increase exposure for THEM. Stop arguing with lawyers, and get on the phone with Leno and Letterman.
Mentos is clearing a path for their community, while Coke, Grobe and Voltz are throwing up roadblocks. Not too hard to pick the eventual winner, and the eventual losers, out of this group.
|
Comments
Speaking of their different views, K pointed out exactly why Mentos is enjoying the free publicity while Coke tries to ignore it. Might be an interesting reading in addition to your analysis.
Posted by: Titel | 07.06.06
Err, looks like the URL to K's blog got lost. Here it is again:
http://www.roadtoforbes.com/index.php/ksblog/the-fresh-maker/
Posted by: Titel | 07.07.06
Thanks for the link to K's entry. K says that Diet Coke's target market is 'middle-aged women'. I would think it is more accurate to say that Diet Coke's target market is 'health/weight conscious women'.
But let's assume that she's right, and that middle-aged women are Diet Coke's target market. If that's the case, then most middle-aged women aren't trolling YouTube looking for Diet Coke videos. Their daughters might be, but they have no idea what YouTube is.
But again, their daughters do. So these videos will expose Diet Coke to an entirely new market, and one that, according to K, Diet Coke isn't targetting.
So these videos could potentially expand Diet Coke's customer base, and their supposed target market 'middle-aged women', will likely never see the videos.
So the end result is, the buzz from these videos can only help Diet Coke.
But on the flipside, coming out flatly against these videos makes Diet Coke look like an old 'stick in the mud', which DEFINITELY turns them off with the younger set.
This is simply another case of a company having trouble accepting that they are no longer the only channel for marketing their product.
Posted by: Mack Collier | 07.07.06
I have not yet met a woman which is not conscious about her weight. Some do not admit it, but they all are nuts about it, conditioned by commercials slapped in their faces since the age of 3 about what women should look like. That's what Coke exploits with Diet line. For active sports practiced by teenagers, there's Sprite - it contains sugar to give that extra energy. Diet doesn't fit in the picture. And Pepsi's Mountain Dew goes one steep further, adding a caffeine kick.
Bringing in daughters that watch YouTube only complicates the story. There are too many if's that have to be met in this supposition. The simpler explanation is usually correct.
I agree, however, that any attention from the market should raise the interest of the company. Coke has a great opportunity to learn from an unexpected feedback and diversify the Diet line to new target groups. Question is, will they listen?
Posted by: Titel | 07.09.06