I had a client request we do a very edgy marketing promotion for the insurance company he worked for. He had been watching all of the Geico gecko commercials and the Allstate "Mayhem” commercials and determined he needed to find a new way to grab the attention of his market. He decided he wanted a female model to be the new face of his company – you know, someone who is about twenty years old and knows nothing about insurance, but looks really good in a bathing suit. He was convinced this would put his company on the map. On top of that, he had the perfect person in mind: his trophy wife. You see, she had done some modeling back in her younger years and she had always hoped to do it again. Now that he was in charge of the marketing department, he thought he could make all her wishes come true and usher in a new branding strategy for the company. How could it miss?

They say that love is blind. Sometimes marketing ideas are blind as well, especially those that cross a line with your customers. For every over-the-top audacious marketing success, there has to be a hundred ideas that flopped like a fish on hot asphalt. How do you know when your marketing idea is good enough to capture the attention of your target market, but not over the line that you would offend them? Let’s start with your target market. To whom are you trying to sell your products and services? If you could define them in a demographic, what would it be? What one group defines as funny is totally offensive to another. What one group deems as charming, is boring to another. For instance, if you are selling to 18-45 year old males, the supermodel want-to-be might work. If you are selling to 30-55 year old females, you can keep your supermodel. They would prefer a cute little boy, say about seven years old, who has lost his front teeth, hair slightly messed up, but with intriguing blue eyes as a way to capture their attention. If you know who you are after as a customer, defining your edge is easier.

Secondly, understand what you are selling. How audacious is your brand? Does it make sense for an insurance company selling liability policies to limit risk exposure to have a marketing campaign that is pushing the line of good taste? If you were selling highly caffeinated energy drinks, it would make sense to push that line. You may remember that Mountain Dew ran into a controversy back in February when their TV ad was called racist by some special interest groups. Others found the ad rather funny. The company apologized and pulled the ad from the airwaves, but let it go viral on the internet. They have a demographic – particularly young males - that found the ad humorous. Could my insurance client get away with the same thing? Absolutely not! You have to understand what you are selling.

Thirdly, are you willing to take some flack for your over-the-top marketing? I have already said that one person’s humor is another person’s disdain. We live in an ultra sensitive society where anyone can start a social media war with your company. JC Penney just pulled a billboard ad when someone thought that a teapot they were selling resembled a caricature of Adolf Hitler! If you talk to anyone who has ever pushed the line of good tastes to grab the attention of the market, they will tell you that you will get criticism. Will your management tolerate this? Do you have a plan to combat the detractors so that they don’t devalue your brand with their complaints? There are some who would say there is no such thing as bad publicity. They would tell you that any attention you can generate – be it good or bad – will help you in your marketing efforts. After JC Penney pulled its billboards off of the freeways, the story of the "Hitler teapots” went viral and they sold out all their inventory. Was the Hitler insinuation founded? No. Was it an embarrassment to the company? Yes. Did they turn the negative publicity into a positive marketing campaign? I believe they did. Just make sure you can stand the heat before you try something like this.

You might be wondering if we took on the challenge of the insurance client I mentioned earlier. Let’s just say we kept the model/wife on the shelf and spared his company from a lot of embarrassment.

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J.C. Penney billboard with Hitler teapot leaves commuters steamed, by Lee Moran, NY Daily News, Wednesday, May 29, 2013, http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/penney-hitler-teapot-steams-commuters-article-1.1357436 

Photo by Quirex