Advertising is at its best when it takes the consumer's point of view into account, anybody who is even remotely interested in advertising knows this...but it's much easier said than done. I've noticed some new campaigns that, in my opinion, speak directly to the target successfully and some that really fall short.
Last week, Kotex launched their U by Kotex campaign, which asks young women to help "Break the Cycle" of the taboo that surrounds the menstrual cycle. As soon as I heard of this idea, I loved it. I went to the site, I watched the videos, I took the polls. I did it all. And I was shocked at what I saw! One poll showed that the majority of young women didn't feel comfortable telling their friends when they were on their period...if you aren't going to talk to your friends about your period, you certainly aren't going to talk to many other people about it. Their first launched commercial serves as a parody of all other tampon/pad commercials, pointing out how those tradition commercials fantasize the realities of your menstrual cycle. Ahh, it was like a breath of fresh air! Thank you, Kotex and JWT for standing up for women, giving young girls an educational tool and helping break the cycle!
While the products that go along with this campaign don't seem extremely different from the traditional, the feeling and movement behind the campaign is what is going to sell. This is the best example I can think of of a campaign successfully talking directly to their target. It is what they want to hear, it is how they feel, but no one else has said it before.
However...some other brands really seem to be struggling to reach their consumers on that same level. Allstate just launched a website asking for media placement ideas to be submitted. Where's the strategy there? It's as if they are begging, "Hey everyone, tell us what to do because we don't know how to reach you!" Allstate has worked with Leo Burnett and Starcom for a while...if those two agencies can't help Allstate with a few successful media placements...I don't know how much luck they will have with this approach. I'm interested to see how it works for them and will definitely be following along to see what they decide.
