This is a little off-topic for CG at least, but I’m actually amazed at the audacity of Motrin in drumming up their little social networking play aimed at Mommy bloggers. The video itself looks like they took something from column A that could cause pain (”Baby slings!”) and added a body part (”Backs!”) and got Motrin. The easiest equivalent to this I can think of off hand would be something like “You’re a Japanese woman and you wear a kimono with those crazy wooden shoes! Ha! You’re crazy and sleepy! It sure is hard on the back! Take Motrin.” The reasons behind the kimono and the baby sling are far more detailed and varied than Motrin implies and, in reality, a baby sling isn’t that bad nor is a Kimono nor do you wear both every day. Try getting your hand trapped in a fold down stroller one evening and then we’ll talk pain. Also, try pushing a baby out of your hooha, but I don’t know much about that.
The fairly big but the company does deserve to be taken to task mostly because this kind of thing isn’t fair to companies who actually do a good job at social networking. By good job I mean they take it one step at a time and they have a real message, not some drummed up animation made by an associate at the ad agency who happened to really like MySpace. The best and only example of social network marketing I can think of is Obama. That’s it. I’ve seen others try and succeed on a limited scale, Samsung Mobile being a notable example, but remember: social networking is about “social networking.” It is perceived as a way to keep your friends up to date on what’s going on and I hardly consider Motrin a friend. I’d consider it a troll until proven otherwise and that process requires a building of trust.
I’ve been on a lot of calls recently with PR folks trying to help them figure out this whole social media thing. In fact, they consider an email with HTML a “social media” message. It’s thinking like this – the idea that if it has more than one color it’s premium content – that is helping marketers create social media explosions in the blogosphere rather than the dull roar they’re looking for.
What could Motrin have done? As MarketingPilgrim notes, they could have sent the video to some blogger moms who could have told them that it was condescending. The blogger moms would have had some say in the message, Motrin could turn their gimlet eye to fixing the ads, and the campaign would have subsumed itself into the background noise of the Internet and, interestingly, could have turned moms to Motrin. Now, however, I doubt any baby luggers, male or female, would consider Motrin an option. After all, generics are cheaper.
What on earth are you on about? I get that it is twitter but you didn’t explain (or I missed) what is the play, what is motrin, and what did they do with twitter?
Random post that does nothing to expand my day or mind.
Please ignore my last comment. As usual techcrunch only posted part of the post and link straight past this one when you click the comments link.
Sigh
There are a lot of things companies can do that actually work. It involves socializing, reaching out, getting feedback and building an army of willing participants to share their message rather than some PR firm trying to use old style tatics in social networks. So many PR Firms are still trying to shout, shove and sell their message, and when they do that it’s a major fail.
p.s. I think Zappos has done a great job on twitter overall, better than most.
I saw an ad at a bus stop this weekend in NYC. Not sure if it was for Motrin, but it had pictures of two tablets with a word inscribed in each, “High” “Heels”. A visual like that makes complete sense. I’m not sure how effective a social media compaign is for promoting things like pain medication, which is a commodity.
They did nothing wrong, it was the decision of a few crazy old ladies to start a fight over nothing.
It is pretty obvious here, why CrunchGear is not in the business of marketing, nor brand strategy. Sorry, but this is a horrid attempt at trying to contextualize, let alone break down, a creative campaign of viral growth for a consumer brand.
Next please.
I read about this on Hollywood2020 http://tinyurl.com/5fa7hl. I disagree I think it’s good for CG to cover this kind of thing.
It’s not Motrin that screwed up, it the agency that they pay so much money to. Their agency is called Taxi based in Canada, and they had the audacity to go crowing about hiring a fancy new “technology specialist” who will >work closely with TAXI’s planners and creatives to develop content solutions that utilize new and emerging technologies to enhance consumer engagement in client campaigns…
I think it’s good that this is on CrunchGear. These new technologies of engagement either will or will not be put to good use by the agencies that serve their clients. Taxi’s not alone in this but man if you’re going to go out there and toot your own horn you better be going somewhere. Johnson and Johnson trusted them and their fancy press releases.
The future belongs ot people who actually understand how technology affects communication and the big agencies always making the mistake of hiring people who are stupid enough to work for them.
I can see why this ad seems insensitive, but here’s the truth from a mother of three: schlepping those babies around in a sling over my shoulder all day DID hurt my back.
I’m just sayin’.
But I prefer aspirin, personally.
I agree with John’s take. Seems like another ham-handed corporate effort to jump into area that has buzz—and screwing it up. To my mind, most folks engage in social networking to casually touch base with others beyond their sphere of intimate daily contacts or who use it as “me-as-brand” tool. If you’re not providing real value within those two buckets, you are at best streaming noise, at worst showing a real disconnect with your customers or reality.
The value of many of these new technologies and tools is being able to do new things in new and better ways. But so much of what we see today is just using new media to push the same old message in the same voice (e.g., moving billboards to banner ads). The Motrin campaign could just have easily been a 30-second TV spot created by Madison Avenue. Somehow, it seems less offensive there—probably because we’re accustomed to TV’s push messages and more adept at tuning them out. When it’s applied to a new, more interactive social space, where the participants are co-creators, it really grates.
Hmm… breastfeeding your baby while taking pain medication. Great solution to the pain of carrying him/her around.
You’re right, this story is all about technology and corporations’ shaky grasp of it.
Why wasn’t the CEO of J&J dragged to a computer on Sunday afternoon, given a crash-course in Twittering and told to issue a swift apology right there and then?
motrin moms ~ 1st Tweets ~ timeline & chart… http://tweetip.us/lkaip
This campaign was clearly created by a team of men. I can see how this could be thought of as a good idea in the planning stages because of it’s practical message. As juliejulie stated, carrying a child all day will hurt your back. However, Motrin (and any other company) should know better than to mess with a mother and her child.
Apply directly to the head!
this is just stupid. the ad is good. what is wrong with women
this is just stupid. the ad is good. what is wrong with women
If only men can tweet the hell out every time an ad that makes men look stupid (irresposible father/husband/boyfriends) comes on, Twitter will be down and the advertising industry will go bankrupt. Get over it, woman !!