“The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.”

Tom Fishburne

 

Did you watch the Oscars last night? 

 

In years past, I usually watch the highlight reel to see who won and who's evening gown looked the most glamorous on the red carpet (my vote this year goes to Amanda Seyfried). 

 

But as this is the pandemic (hopefully the tail-end), I'm always interested in seeing how major brands pivot when the rule book is thrown out.

So I paid a little closer attention this year.

I’m glad I did because there were two very valuable marketing lessons from Oscar night sitting in plain sight.  Did you catch them?

 

Oscar Marketing Lesson 1: Netflix, The Underdog Trillion Dollar Industry Disruptor

 

Did you notice that Netflix picked up the most Academy Award nominations of any film studio – a whooping thirty five nominations in total?

This means that little ol’ Netflix beat out all the Hollywood greats like Warner Bros, Universal, Disney, Colombia Pictures, Paramount pictures etc.

 

That's staggering!

Especially considering Netflix started as a humble DVD subscription service designed to give Blockbuster video (in-store DVD rentals) a run for their money.

We all know who won that war (in case you weren’t renting DVDs when that happened Blockbuster's stubborn refusal to adapt to change resulted in its empire being wiped out).

Then, after Netflix conquered the DVD rental market, they fixed their sights on disrupting the antiquated Hollywood film industry.

Instead of copying the movie-making norm of producing a handful of blockbuster budget type films every year, Netflix turned the model on its head. They spotted the gap in the market and opted instead to produce large quantities of good quality, lower-budget productions.

Last year Netflix released close to 200 "Original Series." They are predicted to be the largest entertainment/media capitalization by market capitalization this year.  

But that’s not all that Neflix did brilliantly.

Their true stroke of genius was they built their own distribution networks – to date they have 200 million + subscribers.  Unlike other film studios, they didn't have to rely on (a.k.a beg, negotiate) third party distribution to get their content viewed.

Yes the others media empires are slowly catching on (eg the introduction of the Disney Plus subscription and streaming platform), but Netflix has forged the way at impressive speed and the other studios have a long way to go to catch up.

 

The Oscar Takeaway: Netflix’s success is another example of how small, agile and hungry can outperform legacy companies with many times the budget. Learn from Netflix. Instead of trying to outspend your competition, out-strategize them.

 

 

Oscar Marketing Lesson 2: The Heart-Warming Google Advertisement That Blew Up Social Media

 

Another interesting Oscar marketing lesson was Google’s extremely clever native advertising.

Did you catch it? 

Before I unpack it, it’s worth pointing out that even Google doesn’t just use Google to advertise its business. 

Google invests millions in old-school advertising methods like magazine print advertising (gasp), direct mail (bigger gasp), and primetime TV (what?!) 

 

There’s a lot you can learn about digital advertising from Google’s non-reliance on it – and it’s something I need to bring you up to speed on another day (I will write about it in an upcoming article). 

 

But for now, let’s talk about Google’s brilliant execution of their Academy Awards TV advertisement.

 

The TV ad went viral on social media, had viewers in tears, and an MSNBC reporter called for Google to get an Oscar. 

Wait – a journalist called out a company's advertisement as being "Oscar-worthy?" 

What did Google do? 

Google cleverly employed what I call Personality Infused Marketing in their TV ad, which is a pretty significant departure from their usual dull giant business advertisements.

 

A case in point - just look at this print ad they ran in Bloomberg Business last week to try and convey the marketing message that "Google Helps."

 

Zzzzz. Bored yet?

 

Fortunately, Google must have listened to some sound marketing advice (sadly not from us). They pivoted their messaging, opting to run an ad that pulled at the heartstrings of their viewers and create genuine connections.

 

In other words, Google stopped advertising like a big, boring business and showed personality.

Here’s the ad they ran instead.

Instead of using empty-sounding rhetoric like the print ad above, this time they used the real-life story of deaf grandparents who use (Google) technology during the pandemic to communicate. The story is both beautiful and touching. 

 

And provides very powerful positioning for Google.

 

Using Personality Infused Marketing is something that every business can benefit from.  

Yes, it's using the power of stories to communicate to your audience, but it's not just about using a story. It’s about incorporating wider messaging that humanizes your business, forges emotional connections, and sets you apart from your competition.  

I’ll give you another example.

 

One of our private clients, a wealth advisory firm in Chicago, was having the same advertising issues as Google.

Their usual advertising platforms weren't bringing in enough new business. People were ignoring their ads. Even though a lot of their business was referral-based, their conversion rates had dropped. Why?

Because their marketing made it almost impossible to tell them apart from their competitors. (zzzzzz). It was just the kind of marketing challenge we love.

 

As part of their strategic rebrand, my team discovered one story in particular that we knew would resonate deeply with their target audience.

One of the firm's long-time clients had died unexpectedly, leaving his 75 year old widow to manage his business and estate. Heartbroken and utterly unprepared, his poor widow had never even balanced a checkbook, or made a deposit at a bank in her life.

Her late husband, bless him, had taken care of her so well, that he had left her completely unprepared to face life without him.

Upon hearing of the client’s passing, one of the firm's partners  dropped everything and immediately flew in to visit her.

The partner stayed for six hours, drinking tea with her in the library.

They laughed and cried together, reminiscing about old times. Then together they came up with a plan to take care of everything that was overwhelming to her – from getting her lawns mowed to implementing a transition team to manage the business.

You might think the only reason the partner made the visit was because his firm would profit from the widow. While the firm did earn substantial fees from managing the family's assets, that was not the reason he went.

He could have easily sent her a card of condolence, made a phone call or called in a flower delivery, which is what most firms might have done.

But he didn't. Upon hearing the news, he called his assistant, canceled the afternoon's meetings and went to help in person.

He also politely refused any payment for the firm taking on a much larger role in helping her, despite it costing them well over $100,000 to implement.

 

I know, I know, it's unheard of, especially for a wealth advisory firm that serves the super-affluent.  This was only one example of many where employees went far beyond the norm to help their clients.

Used incorrectly, that story can seem trite and hollow. But when woven into a bigger strategy of Personality Infused Marketing, just like with Google, it’s a more powerful way to build trust and connect with your future customers.

As a result of people learning about this story (used sensitively in their marketing of course), our client was able to begin meaningful conversations with families that otherwise would have been unreachable.

This in turn enabled them to demonstrate their “service first attitude” and attract new clients.

Was this one story responsible for their double digit growth in twelve months?

No. But it certainly played an important part along with their rebrand and internal commitment to excellence.

 

The Oscar Takeaway: Google has just pivoted to using Personality Infused Marketing. It’s a big change for a company whose ads traditionally could send even the most caffeinated among us, to sleep. We’re glad they’re finally catching on.

If your marketing messaging isn’t resonating the way it used to, don’t get convinced to just “spend more” on your advertising. That is rarely if ever the solution. It may be time for a marketing pivot too.

 

In summary, keep an eye on Netflix and learn from their strategy to challenge the old broken models. And watch for Google’s smarter, more humanized marketing campaigns…coming soon to digital and non-digital media near you!