Good afternoon marketers,
This week, we wanted to try something a bit different with our Friday afternoon newsletter. Instead of the usual roundup, we wanted to send over three key insights we learned from marketers at brands like Amazon Prime Video, Bud Light and Burger King this week. (We posted this as a story on the site this morning but wanted to offer you a condensed version here.) Please do let me know (kristina.monllos@adweek.com) if you like this newsletter format.
Trolling competitors can spur change
Bud Light used its massive Super Bowl push to get consumers talking about what ingredients are in beer. Reporter Katie Richards caught up with Bud Light’s vp of marketing, Andy Goeler, to uncover the results.
Per Goeler, not only did consumer interest rise, but competitors in the category made their ingredients easier to find.
“Miller and Coors had ingredients on their website, but it was very challenging to find,” Goeler said. “A few days after the Super Bowl, they moved it way up to the front, and now it’s a lot easier for consumers to have access to those ingredients. That’s what we want. It lets people compare what goes into the beer and what doesn’t go into the beer.”
Prepare for failure and think about long-term consumer connection
Earlier this week, Burger King's global CMO Fernando Machado took to LinkedIn to share lessons from the company's unique Super Bowl campaign starring Andy Warhol.
"Even if some disliked the spot after fully understanding it, the film was never going to offend them," wrote Machado. "It’s not like we were taking a political stance or confronting one’s belief system. ... we were basically showing a man (well … Andy Warhol) eating a burger. So, sure, some people will not be a fan, but they will not stop going to Burger King because of that."
The ad was a long-term play to "move brand attributes," wrote Machado.
"We never saw this campaign as an activity to increase sales," he continued. "If we simply wanted to drive short-term sales, we would have used the money to run a promotion."
Machado added that "if you want to build a brand for the long run, you need to find ways to connect with people at a different level."
"This is even more important when it comes to connecting with younger generations," he wrote. "Burger King has been in the marketplace since 1954. And if we don’t aim to connect with brains, stomachs and hearts, the brand will fail to engage with people at a deeper level."
Experiential has to be engaging and Instagrammable
Amazon Prime Video, along with HBO and Michelob Ultra Pure Gold, unveiled SXSW experiential marketing plans this week. For what it's worth, Adweek is gearing up for our inaugural Elevate: Creativity and Adweek Experiential Awards coming this spring. See more information here.
Prime Video will pitch its upcoming show Good Omens. The aim of the immersive activation is not only to get fans excited about the show but to give festivalgoers a place to hang out away from the hustle and bustle of SXSW. Making sure that activities will keep attendees entertained is key, explained Mike Benson, head of marketing, Amazon Studios.
“Of course, we want people to take Instagram photos, but we also want people to go in and experience the show and feel like they’ve done something that adds some value to their life, not just to become a marketing tool for us,” said Benson. "… We don’t want to just tell people and sell people. We really want to engage customers in a way that will get them involved, help them understand the storyline and really bring them into these great characters that we’ve created on our series."
Benson added that Amazon Prime Video is picky when it comes to putting on activations for that reason, and that's "traditionally why we don’t just sponsor third-party events. We go out and we create something that will be very specific to what we’re trying to accomplish rather than just becoming a logo on someone else’s activation. That doesn’t really help drive our objectives."
Thanks for reading!
Have a great week,
Kristina Monllos
Brands Editor
