Life doesn’t always go as planned. You know that, especially if you’re in the advertising industry.
It’s tough to plan too far ahead, considering every day’s to do list looks a little different.
Maybe a new prospect reaches out, an old client reappears, a campaign goes south, a scheduling platform crashes, or there’s a classic miscommunication! These are all minor occurrences that we navigate every day. Sometimes though, there’s something bigger, that hold more impact on more people. Say, hmmm I don’t know, maybe a global pandemic occurs for instance!?
When life gives you lemons… 🍋
Sometimes in life there are moments that are big, and maybe even life changing.
It’s important to not let instants like this slip past us. We need to stay on our toes, alert and ready to hop on the next big trend or the latest cultural shift. Our job is to remain relevant and relatable. Let’s leverage life’s moments to make for stronger advertising. There’s a tasteful way to go about this though.
So, life has handed you a big ol’ pile of lemons… good thing we’ve got the perfect recipe!
A mountain of lemons… now what?
These moments (… or lemons) that life hands us are worth leveraging.
In order to build a loyal community of engagers, it’s essential to be transparent and talk about what’s going on in the world. In fact, according to Sprout Social, two thirds of people don’t want brands to stay silent.
A good brand is more than just a platform to sell from, or even more than just a mission statement too. A brand should have a personality and live, breath, and speak up or reach out to their audiences when necessary. This sort of bond will keep people coming back, and bring new people in. We have the capability to leverage a moment and transform it into a conversation between people and even other brands.
As marketers and advertisers, we should be jumping on a trending moment and create unique and awareness-driven content surrounding it. For example, take our current climate into consideration. The class of 2020 missed out on so many important events in their lives due to the shutdown of schools. What does that mean for brands though? Maybe donating a graduation gift to graduating seniors, having the face of the brand speak at a virtual commencement, or even highlighting seniors who work in their stores or offices. These sorts of things add value to a brand, showing that they care about the community around them and the people involved.
What’s lemonade without sugar?
Lemonade isn’t so tasteful without the sugar.
*And so the “sour lemon face” commences* Yeah, it’s just no good. Well, neither is an ad campaign that lacks authenticity. Genuity in a campaign is that sweet sugar in that perfectly prepared glass of lemonade.
There are ads out there that go about using important moments in time in all the wrong ways. The incorrect way to align with a current event is by taking an overly salesy standpoint or even lacking a connection to the cause altogether. Ever see a car commercial urging you to make a big purchase in a time where we’re all a bit uncertain with the future and finances, even though we’re supposed to be staying home anyway? Yeah, we’ve seen a few of those too. It doesn’t make much sense to leverage a moment when it doesn’t feel right.
Lemonade never tasted so sweet!
Leveraging a moment in time has the potential to either create a stronger brand or break it.
As long as your portrayed message is coming from a place of true meaning, you will succeed. It’s important not to sell a cause, for example, the pandemic, but instead promote the important significance behind it, for example the feeling of togetherness that comes along with a community going through something together.
Ah, now take a sip of that cool, refreshing, glass of sweet lemonade!
In the light of a big change in our culture, advertisers and brands must be ready. Get those brainstorming caps on, understand how your brand genuinely relates to the cause, and focus on the solutions you can bring.
On the bright side, leveraging a moment in advertising really allows us to flex our creative muscles. We’re all about rolling with the punches, switching up strategy on the fly, and taking challenges on headfirst. We welcome this! So, life, all we have to say to you is… bring on the lemons!
At DAY Vision, our team of creatives and thinkers are constantly questioning and investigating our changing world and what it has to offer. We work hard to strategize and navigate solutions and next steps depending on what is happening in this crazy world around us!
It’s taken us plenty of taste testing to get the perfect lemonade recipe down, but we’ve learned that the best batches are made from authenticity, creativity, and that they’re served up special from the heart! Check out some of the refreshing glasses of lemonade we’ve squeezed up in our portfolio and don’t hesitate to reach out for a chat or try out our recipe!