Ah, another Halloween, another day of confronting vampire costumes and vampire chortles. It’s a risk that will fly away with tomorrow’s rising sun. But the promotional vampire risks. Those have an eternal life. Don’t get bitten by advertising, publicity, and personal selling tactics which suck the life out of the intended objective—to move the merchandise.
A recent posting on The Atlantic blog gives an example of what international market researcher Nigel Hollis calls the video vampire effect: A 2003 TV ad in the UK for a product called X-cite intended to convince the viewer that using the product would eliminate even the worst of bad breath, what the ad referred to as “dog breath.” At the start of the ad was a disheveled man awakening on a couch, and at the end of the ad, he quickly swallowed an X-cite before being kissed by a woman who has entered the room. In between the beginning and end of the ad, the man opens his mouth and, via special effects magic, regurgitates a dog.
The ad drew plenty of attention. This is usually a fine outcome. However, the shock of the narrative could easily erase any memories of the advertiser and the claimed product benefits. The main message was sucked away.
I could argue that the shock likely caused loads to people to want to see the ad repeatedly and telling their friends about it, resulting in more exposure for X-cite. That’s true, and if the brand name had been featured throughout, rather than saved for a second at the end in a mystery style, the effect might have been bloody good. Or if retailers had posters in their stores with a photo of the dog and the X-cite name, it could work. Shock does sell. Consider ticket sales for haunted houses and raunchy movies.
Humor can also become a promotional vampire. People pay more attention to the joke than to the sales message. In another vein, though, humor sometimes draws away objections to the purchase. Researchers at Georgetown University and University of Washington found that a joke which is not immediately understand can be highly effective in making a sale. The shopper's mental energies are taken with trying to figure out the humor, and this distracts the customer from thinking about reasons not to buy. Humor could be useful in moving the indecisive customer to the cashier station.
Click below for more:
Defend Goal Line with Provocative Offensive
Joke Around to Facilitate the Sale
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