Is Marketing Starting To Tone Down?
I saw this 5 hour energy commercial a couple weeks ago and can’t stop thinking about it. It illustrates a trend I’ve noticed, but I am curious if you have too.
The commercial spoofs the type of young, skateboarding, scruffy-haired, Jeff Spicoli meets Sean White meets Andrew WK soda drinkers. 5 hour energy makes a convincing case by being the staid older brother – more able to make a smart decision about his choice of beverage.
It made me think – is marketing finding a better ROI by toning down the rhetoric? Are they gaining by using logic instead of screaming?
I don’t know if you’ve watched Ideocracy lately, but Brawndo seems even more ridiculous than it did a few years ago. It was always a parody, but now it feel like a parody beyond its time.
Maybe it’s the recession. Maybe it’s a move from TV to online. Maybe people just got sick of commercial pitchmen who sounded like drag racing promoters (Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!).
Do you agree that marketing is starting to tone it down?
Let’s take a less adrenalin-prone product than energy drinks. Perhaps the most mundane is toothpaste.
I noticed a change in toothpaste packaging as well. A few years ago, it was all about which one could make your teeth the whitest. It was about the surficial beauty, the EXTREME clean.
Have you seen the way toothpaste is marketed today? The design colors are much cooler. They’ve swapped “extreme” for “total.” There is an emphasis on health, rather than beauty. Check it out:
Am I just creating patterns where none exist or are we seeing a shift in priorities? Is volume of message being replaced by quality of message? I have no scientific studies to back this up; it’s just something I’ve been noticing and wondering if you have as well.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject. Feel free to use the comment area below to share your thoughts with the community.
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Tags: Advertising, Business, Communication, Marketing, Online marketing
I’m seeing some of this too. Look at the Tostitos adds with the consumers in the supermarket, having an internal dialogue. Or the Dos Equis ad where the Most Interesting Man in the World says, “I don’t always drink beer, but when I do I prefer Dos Equis.” These ads are not only toned down, they seem to be refering to the fact that they are toned down within the ad itself.
This might be counter-intuitive, but perhaps with so many people now talking, shouting doesn’t make sense. By that I mean – when it was just brands talking and consumers listening, you needed to talk louder than the other brands. But now with consumers talking too (Facebook, Twitter, blogs) shouting just kind of makes you look like an a-hole. The guy on the corner needs to shout at passers-by, the guy at the party just needs to be clever, smart or witty.
I like that Dos Equis line. It’s a subtle plug for the sophisticated consumer. Seems like they understand their target.
And the toothpaste stuff definitely relects the times. When markets crash and people are out of work, it’s all about humility and health. Gone are the days of narcissism and rampant consumerism. The messages reflect that. Smart ad folks.
BRAWNDOOOOOO