Facebook’s New Ads and Betty Crocker

The kids are headed back to school and Attention Shoppers! is headed back to the blog. While the entire staff was busy sunning ourselves on the semi-clad French Riviera, the good folks at Facebook were hard at work trying to figure out how to monetize one of the most popular websites in the world.

 

Their latest big idea is a new format for advertising aimed at “engagement”. There are three beta testing advertisers, including CPG stalwart Betty Crocker. As I understand it (and you can read about it in AdAge and see if your understanding is any better) the ads are served up to a specific audience and you can interact with the rich-media executions without leaving the banner. One of the stated goals of the ads is to get  more people to join the fan pages which already exist on Facebook.

 

I could not find the ad, but I did check out the Betty Crocker fan page, and with less than 3,000 fans, it seems like there is work to do in any case.

 

All this Facebook activity made me want to check out which CPG companies were most popular from a fan perspective. For some reason, nearly all of them are food-based products, including Nutella (a favorite in the Attention Shoppers! household) which holds the number four position with around 380,000 fans. In fact, all of the most popular brand fan sites in the CPG world involve food (including Pringles, Hersey, Oreos, Red Bull and M&Ms). The first non-food CPG product on the list is MAC cosmetics, with a relatively anemic 61,00 fans.

 

This year, advertisers will continue to try to make sense (and dollars) out of social networking sites.

 

 

Eos Makes Shaving Sexy

 Most women consider shaving their legs to be a chore—something they need to do, certainly not something they want to do. Eos, a shave gel that up to now has escaped the attention of the crack reporting team at Attention Shoppers!, aims to change all of that with this online experience that makes the act of shaving a very sexy act indeed. In fact, one might think that men will find this site every bit as appealing as women.

 

That said, there isn’t much interactivity on the site. Just a sensual, haunting soundtrack and a black and white video of awomen enjoying herself in an Eos moment. The framing of the video is one of the things that makes the site interesting. Go to the site and you will see what we mean.

 

The highly regarded arbiter of what is cool and good, The Favorite Website Awards (FWA), named Eos its site of the day today.

 

Man, This Site is (Grape) Nuts

 

This evening, the staff from Attention Shoppers! was huddled around the editorial desk collectively reading our weekly Newsweek magazine when we came across an ad that intrigued us. It was for Grape Nuts. And it was very odd. In fact, we cannot even begin to explain it. OK, we’ll try.

 

The headline read: Record Heat…Melting Ice Caps

 

But the headline was crossed out with a red marker, and the red marker had also written the words “Wake-Up Call”  and on the bottom of the page: “It is what it is.”

 

There was also a URL: NoGrapesNoNuts.com

 

So I went there. And it was a very weird experience. I should say at this point that I am a major Grape Nuts consumer. It is a wonderful product. I eat it often. But this site is very confusing to me. It features a pretty funny comedian. Who is very nervous as he talks about Grape Nuts. But I am not sure what he is going for here. Clearly, they are looking for a younger demo.

 

 I should also say that, technologically and from User Experience point of view this was not a great site experience. I had a bunch of issues when I tried to click on stuff or wanted to go to various destinations.

 

Still, major kudos for Grape Nuts for pushing the envelope. I look forward to NoGrapesNoNuts 2.0.

Jump Rope and Drink Coke (But Not at the Same Time)

 You may have noticed that Attention Shoppers! has focused on the online marketing efforts of the Coca-Cola company more than once. That’s because Coke happens to be one of the most successful marketers in the world, and their target audience happens to live online. We believe there is a lot that CPG marketers can learn from Coke.

 

Our example today comes from Coke in Brazil. You may know that Brazil is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. But you may not know that it is also a hotbed of advertising (and internet) creativity.  

 

There is much to like about this site that takes jumping rope to an entirely new place. With fun—and easy to understand–navigation, a catchy music track (that you can download) and tons of instructional videos, this is an awesome site that provides fun and value to Coke drinkers and non-drinkers alike. There is also a user-generated content component and YouTube partnership.

 

While I’m not sure if Coke is jumping on a Brazilian craze or attempting to start one, they certainly get high marks for this effort.

 

This Deodorant Ad is Attractive and Repelling

Every now and then Attention Shoppers! comes across a banner ad that is so simple, compelling and fun that we feel it is our moral duty to bring in to your attention. That’s because it reminds us how effective banners can be. Here is such an ad, for Lab Series Deodorant, which was produced in Singapore. Look at the ad, move your mouse and then click and hold.

 

We discovered this ad via an interesting site, Ads of the World, which allows you to search for ads by country, industry, channel, agency, etc. It is both useful and inspirational. Special thanks to our colleague from Leo Burnett, Italy, Gaia Gilardini, for pointing out this site.

Stride Gum Partners With Semi-Famous Internet Dancer

As Attention Shoppers! has often pointed out, it is difficult to create, from scratch, an online experience that attracts significant numbers of eyeballs. At least without spending lots of cash on an online ad campaign. Advertising to drive people to your advertising, if you will.

 

It makes much more sense to go to where the eyeballs are hanging out. And instead of always creating your own branded content from scratch, it also seems to make sense to associate your brand with existing, already popular content. This is, of course, standard procedure for other channels, but it’s something that is still developing with online marketing.

 

Here is a good example of a CPG brand that is doing just that. Stride Gum is sponsoring the latest around-the-world trip of dancing fool Matt Harding (read what Ad Age had to say about it here). Mr. Harding, who claims he has not had a job since Stride signed him up to be a dancing pitch man, has achieved a measure of internet fame (over five million YouTube visits) by being filmed dancing at recognizable landmarks around the world.

 

The result is a very entertaining montage, that has progressively gotten even more fun to watch as people around the world have joined in the dancing.

 

The relationship with Stride Gum is tenuous at best (Stride Gum lasts a ridiculously long time, as do Mr. Hardings trips and dancing) but, in this case it doesn’t really seem to matter. Increasingly, it will be the job of ad agencies to find this content and offer it up to their clients. If they don’t, there will be plenty of PR firms, Media Planning and buying agencies and Production companies that will be perfectly willing to do it instead–and they already are.

Fresh Breath Makes the World a Better Place

 

What does minty fresh breath have to do with giving third world children the chance to play sports? Not much, as far as I can tell, but that’s not stopping Listerine from leveraging their ties to Olympic athletes (the Hamm brothers, gymnastic medal hopefuls) in this online campaign. They are offering to donate one dollar for every click on a big red ball to the “Red Ball Child Play” program. They are capping the donation at $100,000, and are currently at 73,000 clicks (which doesn’t seem like all that many clicks, but that’s another topic).

 

I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this effort. It’s obviously a worthy cause, and Attention Shoppers! has discussed successful cause related marketing a number of times in the past. It is a growing part of CPG marketing efforts–and for good reason. It’s just that, in this case, the link between halitosis and kids playing sports in poor countries is not all that clear.

 

People Loved to Watch HBO’s Voyeur at Cannes

Since there was so little award-winning work in the CPG category at Cannes this year (significantly less than last year, which is curious) we will venture to winners from other categories which you should find interesting.

 

If you have not yet seen the remarkable work that BBDO New York did to promote the HBO online and on-demand project, Voyeur, you should do so post haste. Here is the video that accompanied the Cannes entry. The multi-channel effort was a massive award winner, taking home two Grand Prix trophies (in outdoor and promotions) as will as five Gold Lions, a Silver and a Bronze in Media, Cyber, Design, Promotions and Film.

 

The premise is simple—HBO gives us a glimpse of what people do when they think no one’s watching. The site itself is mesmerizing—an amazing way to tell stories without dialogue.

 

Of course, no creative work this successful comes without some controversy. Check out this complaint from the interactive shop that collaborated with BBDO.

Cannes 08 Part Deux

 

Every year Cannes recognizes some of the biggest, game-changing advertising ideas in the world. Alongside those huge ideas are smaller ones that still haul home hardware. Here are a couple of those.

 

This idea, for a men’s deodorant from Rexona, is simple and well-produced, but doesn’t involve a lot of interactivity and would probably not incite guys to visit it more than once. It is a one-hit wonder. The premise is simple: a Spanish guy named Fermin is in Pamploma, which is famous for the running of the bulls. He is running from things, too, and obviously needs a very strong deodorant.

 

Then there is this banner for the Brazilian furniture polish, Poliflor. It feels like it should be a 15-second TV spot. But it’s a strong, funny idea.

 

These ideas for CPG companies are not necessarily moving the industry forward, but they moved the judges at Cannes, and there’s a good chance they’ll move consumers, too.

 

 

Another Reason to Love Chocolate

 

There is a very good chance that you love chocolate. A lot. And I love this new site from Cadbury quite a lot. A fine mix of interactivity and video, it features awesome 360 navigation and plenty of surprises. Enjoy—like you enjoy a bit of their scrumptious product..