Alternative Advertising

Strategic Alternative Marketing takes many forms, but advertising on the side of a sheep isn’t one of them. It’s alternative. It might be considered marketing. But it certainly ain’t strategic.

Ok, so the image may spread quickly via the Internet. The image may be viewed by lots of people. But consider this…..Does it make potential customers feel any better or favourably about Hotels.nl? No.

Have you seen a picture of an advert on an animal before? Can you remember who the advert was for? I thought not. Stuff like this is funny (the first time), remarkable (the first time) but instantly forgettable. If you want an instantly forgettable brand - crack-on.

But consider Malmaison so we stay with the hotel theme. This company is completely focused on being remarkable. It focuses on what matters - CUSTOMERS - providing affordable chic hotel suites. The company is utterly passionate on style, yet is grounded by a desire to deliver real value.

But what do they spend their marketing money on? Certainly not sheep in branded body-warmers.

• Very decent toiletries await you in your bathroom. They are yours to take home and enjoy.
• All rooms have the complete set of Mal ingredients - great beds for sleepy heads, moody lighting, power showers, CD players, CD libraries, satellite TV.
• Each room comes with a set of serious wines and nice nibbles (not Black Tower and kitkats).
• Free (and fast) internet access.
• Same-day laundry

I think Marketers have a choice. They can either stick to a path of least resistance, continuing to be lazy, rolling with ideas like sticking adverts on animals, hoping that somehow the idea correlates with more customers. Or Marketers can seek results - by trying harder to properly identify what makes their target audiences tick, stop in their tracks, buy, recommend and return.