Marketing from your Ears to Heart!
Thoughts from TWO engaging audio campaigns I’ve ”heard“ recently…
Which is the hottest area in marketing nowadays? Unbelievable, it’s Audio marketing which seems a little bit old-fashioned. With the popularity of music and podcasts, Spotify has mentioned in its announcement that audio was the №1 activity on mobile in 2020. Believe it or not, I’ve heard more advertisements than seeing since it’s so convenient to listen to the content while cooking, jogging, or even sleeping. Hence, more and more brands seize this opportunity and communicate with their customers through their ears.
Here I want to share you with TWO engaging audio campaigns I recently heard and why I love them!
First, M&M’s new Messages packs…
M&M’s new Messages packs are the most impressive campaign I’ve seen these two weeks. With a printed message on the package and a unique code linked to a Spotify playlist, this campaign perfectly combines two of my favorite things — music & chocolates and is connected by a humorous punchline.
Well, well, well. M&M, you really have my attention!
Combining perfectly with physical and digital ways of sharing…
The reason for us to buy M&M is always because of the desire to eat it. Then M&M has added another value, sharing, from its humorous Super Bowl commercial “Come Together.” And now, it builds on the third reason of “sharing with fun” by using the interesting Message Pack! Moreover, by integrating these messages with a matching playlist on Spotify, you can share messages not only through physical M&M’s Message Pack but also digital music playlists.
This move helps M&M adds another dimension to the customer experience to reinforce their positive feelings toward the brand, especially among its target audience of Millennials and Gen-Z who love humorous and music (like me!). Imagine the situation that you are chewing M&M’s chocolate beans, listen to the “Like a Boss” playlist, and pretend you are working in front of your boss. Well, that’s exactly my status on most of my working days! M&M knows me more than my boss!
The Senior Brand Director of Mars Wrigley has explained the purpose of this campaign: “Incorporating music into M&M’s Messages packs is a new way for us to help fans share their true selves and connect with others, which helps us live our purpose of better moments and more smiles.”
Yes, M&M made it!
NEIWAI, leverage the campaign through collaborating with podcasts!
Besides M&M’s campaign, another impressive campaign I’ve noticed these days is a collaboration of a Chinese underwear brand NEIWAI and the podcast StochasticVolatility. Having the brand value on liberating and empowering women with comfortable clothing, NEIWAI has launched a campaign about “NO BODY IS NOBODY” to encourage women to embrace every side of themselves. And this brand has expanded this campaign through collaborating with the podcast StochasticVolatility, which podcast mainly has topics on feminism, and launched three episodes about gender issues with famous Chinese female leaders from different areas.
Perfectly aligned with the brand vision.
The first reason for my fondness is that NEIWAI shows its social responsibility from this collaboration. Chinese women’s gender awareness has been sprouting in recent years, and they are eager to both free their body and mind. However, it’s tough to find the ways through the deep-footed patriarchal society. NEIWAI takes this responsibility (or opportunity ) to help these customers embrace themselves inside and out. The clothes from NEIWAI provide women with the comfortable on their bodies, and the podcasts provide customers with comfort in their minds. These made customers have a good opinion about its products and an emotional connection with this brand. A win-win strategy, brilliant!
Precisely found the target audience.
Also, most of the listeners of StochasticVolatility are female who aligns with NEIWAI’s target audience. This collaboration helps NEIWAI promote its brand's vision precisely to the potential customers and allure more customers know and love their brands. It’s a costless and efficient way for NEIWAI to explore new consumers.
In conclusion, I cannot help express my love of NEIWAI & StochasticVolatility after this collaboration! Love them, love them, love them!
Marketing from your Ears to Heart!
Unlike watching commercials from YouTube that I always click the skip bottom, I really enjoy these two campaigns' experience. This reminds me that marketing is both a science and an art. Technology and data can provide you with the science to reach your customers, but how to use them to leverage the contents is the art behind the campaigns. We still need a lot of effort to market artfully to our customers' hearts.
And keep thinking!
