Welcome to the Marketing Minute, a carefully curated rundown of our favorite things sizzle-worthy in marketing news.
In this edition:
- Tito’s vodka tackles dry January
- Apple’s “The Greatest” hits us right in the feels
- Never smear your lipstick again
- Another epic “oldies” song goes viral
Tito’s Teams Up with Martha Stewart for DIY January
Dry January has become a popular health trend that goes hand-in-hand with New Year’s resolutions to establish better wellness habits. Rather than bemoan the idea of losing sales to this movement, Tito’s Vodka leaned into it and teamed up with the Queen of Domestic Arts, Martha Stewart, to demonstrate household uses for their product.
In an article from Muse by Clio, one of the creatives who worked on the campaign noted that during the research process for this project, “we realized the DIY community was using Tito’s for all kinds of stuff that had nothing to do with cocktails.”
Add Martha Stewart with a bit of humor, and a brilliant and creative advertising campaign is born. Plus, who knew you could refresh your stale shoes with just a few quick spritzes? Check out the campaign in the video below:
To promote using their drink for these household hacks, Titos’s even offered a DIY January Kit with three different attachments specially designed to fit their bottles. The campaign was so popular that these kits sold out quickly.
Marketing Takeaway: Rather than seeing a specific time of the year or holiday as an obstacle for your product or service, think outside the box and brainstorm ways you can make it work for you. Even with dry January, Tito’s came up with a brilliant marketing campaign with the queen of DIY herself to demonstrate ways to use their product for cleaning and cooking purposes. This viral campaign ensured that people would talk about their specific brand, and find creative ways to use their product other than just drinking it.
Apple’s “The Greatest” hit us right in the feels.
In one of Apple’s latest commercials, they shine a light on how their technology benefits the everyday lives of their consumers: specifically those who are differently abled. From visual descriptions of surroundings, to using voice activation to take a photo – the video is a beautiful example of inclusive marketing that reminds us how human beings thrive.
This ad hits us right in the pathos. Especially when you realize only 1% of primetime ads feature people with disabilities.
Our Takeaway: We’re a soft-hearted bunch, and tend to be drawn to examples of marketing that adds a positive message to the barrage of marketing we get everywhere we go these days. But is this a functional ad?
We vote yes! It paints its consumers as heroes and highlights how this technology can benefit you. From an Apple watch alerting a deaf mother that her baby was crying to text-to-speech technology on an iPad, Apple expertly highlighted the features of their products while keeping the focus on the consumer. This is textbook marketing, and we’re so happy to have stumbled upon it!
Never Smear Your Lipstick Again
Getting the perfect lines on your cherry red lipstick is hard enough as it is. If you have limited motor abilities, it can become nearly impossible. But L’Oreal, who is at the forefront of using technology in creative ways to improve their products, recently introduced their new Hapta “smart applicator” lipstick device. It uses motion control and custom parts to help those with shakier hands still get a perfect lip look.
The modification reminds us of basic user design principles. We are in the thick of studying Google’s user design experience courses as one of our team members gets certified on the topic–and one of our favorite takeaways was a discussion the course included on the invention of the sloped curb you find on every street corner. It wasn’t always that way. Once upon a time, those in wheelchairs had quite a challenge getting from sidewalk to sidewalk. But fixing the problem for them ultimately made life better for many others –those walking with canes, those on bikes or roller skates, or even those walking with strollers or toddlers in tow.
Our Takeaway: L’Oreal’s move into motorized lipstick is just another reminder that when it comes to your marketing (and your product and services), it always serves you and your customers well when you think about the outliers. By helping them, you might just improve things for everyone.
We’re Gonna Love This Song For A Long, Long Time
One of our team members was delighted to find out that the song “Long Long Time” by Linda Rondstadt is having its moment in the limelight – she had long known it as the breakup anthem her mother had listened to as a way of getting through many heartbreaks in the 70s.
The heartwrenching song was featured in the breakout success show The Last Of Us and is having its moment – much like Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” did in Stranger Things.
Our Takeaways: We have talked many times about the power of nostalgia in marketing. And the showrunners of The Last Of Us have shown exactly how powerful tapping into this can be, once again.
Have these marketing campaigns inspired you to ramp up your own marketing game? If you need help figuring out where to start or where to put your energy when it comes to marketing, this free quiz can help.