In reading ADWEEK recently, I noticed that Pfizer’s Advil brand is on the market for a new agency. What struck me is that the RFP (request for proposals) notes that Advil is seeking a firm that can forge “deep emotional engagement and connections” between its brands and consumers, and “address key category issues beyond product parity.”
After reading about Advil’s desire for “deep emotional engagement,” it made me think. Is this a trend? Is this why I’ve been feeling so emotional watching commercials lately?
During the past few weeks, I have been struck by some overwhelmingly emotional ads that work to personalize both the product and brand – and play up your emotional connection to them. This isn’t a totally new idea, but it is an interesting shift. Just like there are trends in fashion, there are trends in advertising and the trends shift for different reasons.
Take for example, Toyota. Only a few months ago, they were in the midst of worldwide mechanical recall disaster. After only a few weeks of running apology ads in February, Toyota teamed up with agency Saatchi & Saatchi to produce some really great ads – personal vignettes of everyday people and their Toyotas. Better yet, they went even further and rolled it out into a Facebook campaign, asking people to share their stories via Toyota’s personalized Facebook page – it’s pretty cool if you haven’t seen it, yet.
One of the ads focuses on Erica. She is a budding pastry chef who quit her job to go out on her own by opening a pastry business, which she operates from her home. The only catch, Erica doesn’t have a car. She has been saving for a Toyota Corolla for years. We see her on bikes, trains and buses, carrying her cake and pastry deliveries to her clients. (We feel for her…) At the end of the commercial, she and her best friends are sitting around a picnic table for a birthday lunch and a brand new black Toyota Corolla pulls up with “ERICA” on the license plate. Erica is amazed and touched. (And so are we.) A heartwarming story.
What recall? We aren’t even thinking about that acceleration mess after watching this. We are thinking what a sweet story this is and how Toyota has given this woman the opportunity she needs to get her business on its feet. And, after watching a few more stories of other families and individuals who couldn’t imagine their lives without their Toyotas, we easily forgive and open up that relationship again.
What Toyota is doing is building a relationship with its current and potential consumers. At the end of each commercial, rather than referring you to its homepage or droning on about financing and interest rates, the commercial finishes by referring you to its Facebook page to share your story, or check out others. Toyota is creating a community that it hopes you’ll be a part of.
But it’s not just Toyota this is mastering this strategy – check out Apple’s newest band of iPhone commercials. The spots highlight the iPhone 4’s unique feature, FaceTime, which allows callers to have face-to-face video calls with friends and family.
In the most recent round of ads, we watch as some of life’s most intimate experiences are shared “face-to-face” as only the iPhone 4 can do. We see and hear from a grandfather who is being called by his son – the son sharing the first moments of his newborn baby’s life with the older man who is now officially a grandfather for the first time in his life. The young man asks the older man how it feels to be a grandfather and the grandfather asks the son how he feels to be a dad. Tears of sweetness well up in my eyes.
Another ad features a young girl who has just returned from the dentist with her new braces. She is on the phone with her father who is trying to get her to show him the new braces. She is reluctant, vowing she will never smile again. He eventually gets her to smile and says, “Come on, they look good.” “Really?!” the young girl says. “You look beautiful,” the father says.
And another ad features a pregnant mother receiving an ultrasound, and her husband who is presumably on overseas military duty is able to talk to his wife and see the ultrasound, which brings them both tears and smiles.
You can’t help but be visually and emotionally engaged in these commercials. These personal keyhole views into life draw out human experience in “everyday moments,” and both Toyota and Apple have tapped into that beautifully. These ads aren’t heavily sales pitchy; they are not filled with bulleted information or facts and figures. These commercials are all about people, their relationships and our ability to connect to these moments and experiences.
This is the kind of “deep emotional engagement and connection” that Pfizer’s Advil brand is looking for in its next agency. And it is this type of personal, emotional engagement that can build lasting brand loyalty more effectively over the endless attempts at product comparison and product parity.
