The weird and wacky marketing strategies that help Liquid Death, Taco Bell, and GoDaddy stand out
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Its never been a more complicated time to be a marketer, but connecting with consumers in a meaningful way is as important as ever. For brands like Liquid Death, GoDaddy, and Taco Bell, that sometimes means embracing another product or experience entirelythink: an adult diaper for concerts, celebrity-created goggle glasses, or a live experience for taco fans.Of course, not every risk pays off. But when a weird idea works, it can really work, as marketers from the three brands shared during a panel discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW.The power of an idea that can transcend channels and reach and connect with consumers is really important, said Taylor Montgomery, Taco Bells chief marketing officer in North America.When Taco Bell dreamed up its first Live Mas Live event in 2024, Taylor recalled how the team didnt know if anyone would watch or like an event for tacos modeled after the Apple tech launches. Live Mas Live was just cool and weird enough to work, however, so Taco Bell held its second such event earlier this month in Brooklyn, ensuring a vast majority of invitees were diehard fans, he added.It is a way to invite consumers in to have a relationship with the brand and for us to be just really real and raw and vulnerable and authentic, Montgomery told the audience. We try to stay really anchored on whats in it for the fans.The comedic connectionComedy can be a good entry for finding a new audience and converting them to fans. Liquid Death has done several collaborations with not-obvious collaborating brands and even launched items that have very little direct relevance to the brands lineup of beverages.Late last year, Liquid Death collaborated with Depends on a limited-edition, metal-inspired $75 Pit Diaper so that music fans wouldnt have to brave the bathrooms at a concertand it sold out within hours, said Dan Murphy, senior vice president of marketing.Its also found success with past collaborations on new products with brands like Yeti, E.l.f. Beauty, and Van Leeuwen Ice Cream.The goal, Murphy said, is to combine Liquid Death with an unexpected brand to reach a new audience and have fun. Often, the result is a parody of marketing or humorous content that doesnt smell like an ad and creates engagement with consumers and the media, he added.The metrics you should look for are saves and shares, Murphy said. If somebodys going to go back and watch that again, if somebodys sharing that with a friend, theres that viral coefficient that is telling you youre doing it right.Revising the playbookGoDaddy took a similar approach with a Super Bowl ad this year that followed actor Walton Goggins using the companys artificial intelligence-powered tools to launch a small business: Walton Goggins Goggle Glasses. As with Liquid Deaths diaper, consumers can actually buy the sunglassesand the ad marked the companys return to the biggest advertising day of the year after an eight-year hiatus.Our take was if were going to show back up at the Super Bowl, weve got to do something wacky and weird enough that people get pulled into the story, but the story has to be true, has to be authentic, and ultimately its got to be about the evolution of the products that were selling, said Fara Howard, chief marketing officer at GoDaddy.For people who may recall the controversy-laden ads that made GoDaddy a household name in the first place, this years ad illustrated the transformation journey the brand has been undergoing for several years.Being bold, taking risks has been what put us on the map to begin with, Howard said. Using that playbook, but in really different ways, has been our strategy.Finding what worksOf course, not every weird idea resonates with consumers. Murphy said thats why Liquid Death opts for a small bets approach that helps it de-risk because it instead churns out a lot of content that often costs about $30,000.Brands with much larger budgets often miss the mark by mistaking their idea for more than it is.Its very easy internally to think your content is great when its really not, when its just an ad, Murphy said. People dont like ads.Liquid Deaths goal is to be the funniest thing in your feed on a given day, Murphy said, and the marketing team workshops ideas with comedians using a Hollywood-style writers room approachwhich means keeping the non-funny operational people out of the room. Likewise, Howard said its important to know whose feedback isnt a necessary part of the creative process.All youre going to do is make a saltine cracker, she said. If you ask everyone, do you like it, do you like it, do you like it, do you like it? And you take their feedback. All youre going to do is water down the work.Finally, its important not to get stuck looking backwards but to forge on when an idea doesnt work, Montgomery said. Despite a lot of hype around Taco Bells launch of a Cheez-It Crunchwrap Supreme, it didnt deliver what consumers wanted, but he said the company found success with other ideas.There are always going to be setbacks; listen to the consumer, but just keep swinging, Montgomery advised marketers in the audience. If youre not failing, youre not trying.
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