As mentioned in the documentary we watched in class this past week, people are starting to like big corporations less and less. The average consumer is getting a better understanding of the motives of companies trying to sell things. Sure, cheerios can tell you that they represent family, or whatever, but most people aren't motivated by that line of advertising anymore. Humans tend to see large businesses like fast food franchises as monolithic, unfeeling entities that exist to make money only. This is one of the failings of traditional advertising: people stop being influenced by the same types of ads on repeat.
The goal of advertising is to remind someone of a product when they are in a position to buy that product. Like what cheerios did, companies want to associate a positive emotion with their product, and normal ads are not only ineffective in many ways, they are very expensive. So how can a company identify on a personal level with their consumers while also spending very, very little on advertising? Wendy's has the answer. The @Wendys Twitter account has become very popular in recent years. It is run by a very small team of 5 marketers, who respond to comments online and generally interact with the internet ecosystem. But rather than just responding to people who compliment them with generic-sounding thank yous, Wendy's takes a different approach. They frequently start flame-wars with other fast food accounts or take the time to make jokes about smaller users. Wendys has taken the time and effort to integrate into the culture of the internet, rather than just advertising from outside. People like the idea of a snarky company, because it is so different from the ideas of large businesses that they are used to, and as a result, they let their guard down and accept this new form of advertising.And that's the genius of Wendy's advertising campaign. People actually like the advertising. They are willingly interacting with the account and spreading its message, liking its posts and spreading the word. And all it takes is 280 characters.
Sources:
https://qz.com/1330279/twitter-wars-why-people-love-it-when-accounts-like-wendys-pick-fights/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/andriacheng/2018/10/08/wendys-twitter-roasts-have-become-the-envy-of-marketers-heres-how-it-does-it/#5d1c8889fea4
https://bizfluent.com/info-8745285-profit-margins-food-business.html
This is very interesting and I agree that marketing is heading in this direction. It is apparent that a lot of big names are also joining forces with individual influencers for a more personal touch. For example, before Olivia Jade Loughlin was kicked out of USC and lost all her sponsors, she had deals with Sephora, Lulu's, Amazon, Smashbox, TRESemme, etc. In other words, large companies want to interact on a individual level and be associated with being cool and trendy.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point that advertising techniques change over time in relation to society. I agree that Wendy's has definitely been clever in the area of advertising because they were easily able to capture their target audience (consumers). I've always wondered why ads and commercials on TV are even a thing, for example, because no one actually pays attention to them and they are simply an annoyance. However, Wendy's definitely takes a different approach and this also says something about how our society is changing.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good example of how major companies are changing their advertising techniques as the interests and mindsets of those they are marketing to have changed over time. This is similar to how Sprite, in the documentary, decided to start marketing to teenagers by showing that they "understood" them and that they were "different" from other soda brands because they used anti-marketing methods.
ReplyDeleteI like how you wrote about Wendy's effective marketing techniques. Personally, I have seen several of their tweets on different social media platforms and have found them funny and easy to interact with, which is, of course, their biggest goal. By having this personality online, Wendy's can market for their products while at the same time effortlessly make their consumers spread the word and create loyalty with wanting to see their next social media joke or flame-war.
ReplyDeleteI agree how people become less influenced by the same types of ads on repeat. This can relate to the law of diminishing marginal utility, as the more we see something, the less the of an effect it has on us. Effective marketing like this can be categorized as guerrilla marketing which takes on unique and cheap/costless ways of advertising and connecting with customers. Chick-Fil-A is also a fast food brand that has used similar advertising to sell products. On social media, Chick-Fil-A is commonly compared to other "inferior chains" with their staff being so nice and the company giving away many free items. With the personal connection their staff has with customers, they sell their food with a distinct kindness that was previously rare for fast food chains.
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