The Diet Coke Nerd Ad – Trip Ups & Takeaways
“Good products can be sold with honest advertising. If you don’t think the product is good you have no business advertising it.”
David Ogilvy
Last weekend I went to see the kid-friendly movie The War With Grandpa. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the movies. We sat the obligatory 10 seats apart from the group over to be COVID-compliant, bought a large popcorn and patiently waited for the movie to start.
But first, the ads.
Turns out CocaCola is hitting movie goers with a vengeance - actually Diet coke is, to be precise. The flailing beverage that the Coca Cola Company accidentally cannabilized its own sales with by introducing CokeZero is back being promoted front and center.
The ad campaign that bombarded us next defies logic, insults the consumer, and perhaps, is the most glaring example of psychological manipulation in recent advertising history. This campaign launched several months back but in the chaos of COVID, if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s understandable (links are below).
The good news is that there are KEY learnings in here for your business:
Let’s take a quick look and get straight to the bullet takeaways.
1. The Nerd Ad – “If you drink diet coke you get smart”. Watch it here.
2. The Drink What Your Mama Gave Ya Ad – “Your Mom raised you while drinking diet coke. She’s awesome. Do what she tells you and drink it too”. Watch it here.
Horrendous right? It’s an all-time low for Coca-Cola advertising that’s rumbling on to the tune of millions of dollars in ad spend. Happily for the rest of us, there are some valuable lessons.
Below are the bullet takeaways.
What Coke Did Right (yes there were positives):
They actually niched their message. CocaCola campaigns are notorious for trying to appeal to the masses. Not here. They were at least brave by picking a niche (nerds and Moms – not the kids raised by cool Moms as you might first think), and trying to speak their language. They goofed by picking the wrong niches and using the wrong messaging.
Their ads are visually different. Even though your eyes are glued in disbelief, like watching a train wreck in the making, they’re nevertheless glued. You can’t accuse this ad campaign of being boring. Or copying a competitor. They at least get brownie points for that.
They’ve been brave enough to polarize people. Which means people are talking about these ads, which means reaching a greater audience for free – for better or worse.
Key Learnings For Your Business
To paraphrase the great, late David Ogilvy said – if you don’t 100% believe in a product or service then don’t waste your time and money promoting it. Otherwise it’s like arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Diet Coke is a dying brand (unless it can successfully change the formulation). No amount of clever advertising is going to change that because more people are saying no to chemical sweeteners.
Don’t insult your customer. Even if your employees or your advertising agency thinks it’s clever or funny. Remember who pays the bills. Their opinion is the only one that really counts.
Remember the power of advertising in niches – “there are riches in niches.” This is the most fundamental step of the Client Stampede Marketing Formula – Target Market. Reject advertising that is trying to appeal to the masses. In doing so, your message gets so boring that you miss your mark and appeal to no one.
Hope you have a great week!
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