In August, the Wall Street Journal reported that Proctor and Gamble, the owner of Tide, is spending more than a third of its U.S. budget of marketing money on advertising and development of digital media. This represents an aggressive shift as Americans are spending less time watching television and more time online. The average time that consumers spend with digital media per day is expected to surpass TV viewing for the first time this year, according to research firm eMarketer, which estimates the average adult will spend more than five hours per day online, on mobile devices or with other digital media this year. By contrast, the average person will spend four hours and 31 minutes watching television, eMarketer estimates.
"The bottom line is we need and want to be where the consumer is, and increasingly that is online and mobile," a P&G spokesman said.
Other company executives have reported that in many cases, digital media is a faster and cheaper way to reach consumers. So, what are they all spending this money on? Here is an example of a fun mobile marketing campaign that debuted around Halloween of this year.
You would normally think that brands that make candy and costumes would launch the most aggressive campaigns during Halloween, but this year, Tide launched a smart way to stay relevant. Through their Twitter account, they featured seven spoofs on horror films that included bottles of detergent portrayed as scaring stains. Click here to see some examples!
This was a smart way for a brand that makes items not related to Halloween be included in the festive buzz. As marketers, taking advantage of everything we can is vital to our survival. Tide took advantage of the time of year, as well as mobile marketing and the popularity or Twitter.
Sources:
Digital Set to Surpass TV in Time Spent with US Media. eMarketer. 8-1-13. <http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Digital-Set-Surpass-TV-Time-Spent-with-US-Media/1010096>
P&G Shifts Marketing Dollars to Online, Mobile. Wall Street Journal. 8-1-13. <http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323681904578641993173406444>
Hey Emily,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! I also thought Tide's marketing campaign was interesting. I like it when companies have a little fun with their product in advertising sometimes just as Tide did with the 'stains better be scared' ad you highlighted. I think you're right that even though this company certainly wasn't Halloween-related that doesn't mean they can't use it to their advantage as well. Certainly with the mobility and ease of use of mobile it will continue to expand and improve. It will be interesting to see the future of marketing, especially with mobile.
Grace
stains better be scared is a great slogan. Tide makes it seam that all I have to do is wash my cloths in Tide and all of my stains will go away. This is fantastic. I can see that a shift in media advertising far out ways television. Doesn't everyone have a smart phone these days? Most people are connected online 47/7 not sitting in front of a TV waiting for commercials. We even record own shows now so we don't have to sit through the commercials anymore. Tide is on the right track for sure!
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