Clicksharp Marketing

Every so often, as we know, it pays to look at innovations from the offline world. After all, they still own the lion’s share of consumers’ eyeballs (and ear…drums?) in the United States. Not to mention advertisers’ wallets.

Yesterday I stopped short in the middle of a busy intersection at 79th Street and Amsterdam Avenue on New York City’s Upper West Side. Plastered on the back of a newsstand, this advertisement for Delta Airlines caught my eye:

At first glance, I suppose, the ad is exactly what it seems.

But let’s rewind about 23 years, to 1985. A young basketball player in Chicago was on his way to becoming the most popular athlete on the planet. And Michael Jordan was already getting big bucks from Nike to promote his own shoe, the Air Jordan (property of Jordan Brand, a division of Nike):

Maybe you’ve seen the Jumpman logo once or twice?
…or a hundred times?

Travel and sneakers? What’s the connection? Have another look at the Delta ad:

Is this just “dumb luck” on the part of Delta’s marketing department? Probably not. The advertising manager or director at Delta may very well have had something different in mind when arranging the ad copy. 23 years ago, this person was likely of the age in which he or she too wanted to “be like Mike” (admit it–we all did). Either that, or they at least were cognizant of Michael Jordan and his sneakers being idolized their peers and the world around them.

Marketing is increasingly becoming an interdisciplinary art form. It is not uncommon for marketers to have backgrounds in psychology or sociology. Maybe this particularly person remembered the concept of priming from Psych 101 freshman year — that eliciting positive feelings brings positive associations in the subconscious.

An ad for a direct flight to Jordan has a certain consumer in mind. The ad shows a male face in his thirties or fourties. It’s a business trip. And probably the kind of trip being taken by an ambitious, competitive, high energy “peak performer.” Much like these same travelers probably felt when lacing up a pair of Air Jordans back in 1985.

So what insights does this innovative use of a billboard advertisement mean for the digital marketer?

• Remember your consumer. Even if you sell B2B, ignoring the end user is far too big a risk. It’s simply too cheap to reach end users on the internet; if you don’t speak to them, your competitor will.
• Look for answers in unlikely places. If you are about to launch an innovative household product, you might learn something from the Febreze campaign on Facebook… but might learn ever more from the Nintendo Wii channel on YouTube.
• Never underestimate the psychology of the sale. Priming is a very intuitive way to transfer goodwill (or even equity fro other brands, in this case) over to your own. A social media campaign or corporate blog is a good way to achieve this end.

And above all — be one step ahead of your competitor. Defense wins championships.
~~~~~

Paul Burani
Clicksharp Marketing
New York, NY

This entry was posted on Friday, March 21st, 2008 @ 9:18 am on the category Marketing Theory. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.


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