I wrote this a while ago for someone else but it's gone unused so I figured I'd share it with you. So it may be a few months late but I'm sure you'll still get the lesson.
In New Zealand we've recently been exposed to some nice viral marketing by Air New Zealand showing that the big boys/girls can get in on the play with social media when they do it right.
It started off as a clever TV commercial involving real staff members dressed in nothing but body paint. There's also a "Bare Essentials of Safety" video that's a bit more interesting than your normal in-flight presentation. You can see the TV ad below and visit the website for more including behind the scenes footage:
It's about to hit 3.5 millions views on YouTube alone and it's definitely got the attention of the public in New Zealand (and no... not negatively). However, the question still remains on how effective it is.
Personally, I think the message kind of gets lost in the entertainment value and even though they state it quite clearly during the ad... I'm not sure how many would recall it. I'm too busy singing the catchy theme song to remember what some woman was saying.
It's also unclear how many more ticket sales it will lead to. Although it does help modernise the image of Air New Zealand which was quite old school compared to newer competitors. But do people buy based on catchy commercials?
The marketing team have definitely been having some good social media ideas lately with their Grab a Seat website which has lots of cheap national flights available each day (and 1500 to 2000 people watching it most days) and their use of Twitter. It's good to see them having a go and achieving a lot of success so far.
A downside is their focus on price... I'm not sure why they want to compete with newer budget airlines on price as it's going to cut into their business significantly over the coming years. Isn't there another reason to choose an airline?
Even if the message may have been lost there is definitely something to say for its buzz appeal. If you're going to invest in a commercial this is probably an ideal result. But while it never hurts to have your ad passed around the internet and discussed... it'd be interesting to see an increase in bookings.
Remember, buzz for attention's sake is wasteful unless it gets you sales.
Oh... and if you want real nudity in advertising, search on "Nothing to Hide Elave" for an interesting skincare ad. Not safe for work...
So true Craig, great questions. And “how will it generate sales?” is my favourite question of them all. So it appears that generating sales wasn’t Air New Zealand’s goal? Perhaps their goal was “brand recognition” or making the board members feel good when their friends and family tell them the ad is so great.
Hey Sheldon,
I believe everyone thinks their goal is to “increase sales” but since they can’t (or won’t) measure results then the whole system collapses. That’s when it’s easy to say “Well it increased our brand recognition…”