Secrets to Share From Lego Campaigns

What is the key for your marketing persuasion?1 We feel emotion is the most critical element for persuasion. That is a hands down fact in our minds. Is it a secret? We hope not, or we have had it wrong for all these years. But it seems like a hidden truth for many businesses. Or camouflaged. Certainly Leo Burnett understands what is needed, though. Certainly something we should learn how to apply well. The Lego marketing campaigns surely have.

It is a simple concept. People don’t read ads, they read what interests them.1 So if you are going to generate marketing campaign designs, you are going to have to create interesting copy. And, oh by the way, it must be more interesting than the millions of other advertisements out there. Now that is a daunting task, isn’t it?

According to Nielsen, there are 27,000,000 pieces of content are shared each day.  And Statistic Brain says that our average attention span has dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8 seconds – one second less than a goldfish!

We check our phones 150 times per day. We check our email up to 30 times an hour. And the amount of information in the world continues to double every 18 months.

All this available information and data is creating a battle for customer attention between brands, publishers, and every one of us who creates content. But more importantly, its forcing businesses to think and act like publishers and creative designers.

I have to admit. I am a big fan of the Lego company. We have done several analyses of their marketing and innovation activities.

Related: 12 Best Examples of Successful Advertisement Elements

So it is time to evaluate Lego marketing campaigns. A great competition going on within the creative toy industry. Lots of great products? Yep, no doubt. And some even better marketing and advertising campaigns.

Have you seen the recent Lego TV ad promoting the Lego movie in the UK?

If not, you should invest 3 minute now and check it out. It will prove benefitial in reviewing our ad analysis.

Let’s examine this commercial and what contributes to its strengths and weaknesses as a component of an effective marketing campaign. And its ability to influence or persuade.

Marketing or advertising, you need to create information that your customers find interesting and worth talking about and remembering. At the end of this article, please comment on whether this advertisement achieves this goal. Let this community know what you think.

Do we believe this is such an effective advertising campaign and if so, why?

Strong value propositions

If you have a product that truly discriminates you from your competition, build your messages on these. Give your customers reasons to select you. This movie ad grabs you with 4-5 short excerpts. Each excerpt having an element of music and great use of visuals. No between your eyes value proposition, but just great examples from the movie. Good strategy.

Consider the end state values 

Customers and particularly the target customers are looking for entertainment using new technology, Lego products, and the application of imagination and emotion. No reason to view  the movie without these and the marketing strategy certainly is addressing this end state in our opinion. The most important value points.

Be relevant to your target market

Keep in mind that one message does not fit all. It starts with knowing your target market. Here the target markets are families and young people and they are featured prominently in all of the movie components. Most of the movie components, and there are many good ones, are written for sharing with young audiences and their family members.

Grabbing attention 

Interesting information, well presented, showing emotion, always holds attention, yes?  Keep in mind that people don’t watch ads … they watch what interests them. Your ad messages must be interesting to your target communities. This message certainly grabs and holds attention based on emotion, superb visuals, cool Lego products, and a great sound track. Letting the visuals totally carry the messages.

Simple  messages 

Superb visuals and visuals so simple that you quickly grasp them and don’t lose interest. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words. And the music has a way to keep you tied in. Creating customer interest does get any simpler than this, does it? A very simple, yet entertaining design, don’t you think?

Make your ad a component 

Always make your ad part of an integrated marketing campaign. There are a series of similar ads in this campaign … all geared to address the Lego movie in a similar vein to target customers. All follow the same theme … simply shine light on the value of the products and the use of great  imagination. Great visuals. Entertaining music. Little talking. Definitely no selling. Taking a page from the past Lego marketing strategy.

Influence and persuasion

There is no better means of influence or persuasion than emotion. Hands down the best, in our opinion. The higher degree of emotion creates the more differentiation and makes it easier for your brand to project uniqueness and its word of mouth messages. Emotion is the secret language of the brain … Lego knows that working on emotion will improve their persuasion or influence.

This commercial focuses on emotional appeal in grand fashion, in all components of the movie excerpts. It is the secret of this commercial’s success.

Summary

Lego marketing campaigns aren’t complete without its core message, the religion of “play,” which binds this multifaceted movie together. “Play is an absolutely essential need, not only for children but also for grown-ups,” Mads Nipper, the chief marketing officer of Lego, says. Sounding more like new-age gurus than businesspeople, Nipper and other Lego executives repeat the word “play” over and over, reverently, taking a basic source of human happiness and placing it at the center of their brand.

Remember, it is not what marketing campaigns do with the consumer; it is what the consumer does after viewing the marketing.

We believe the Lego marketing strategy is a winner. Simple, yet interesting. Not selling, but focus on play. What do you think?

Does this commercial persuade you?

Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?

Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.

Call Mike at 607-725-8240.

All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.

When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.

Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.

Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and  advertising?

Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?

Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them on G+Twitter, and LinkedIn.  

Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.

More reading on marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:

Guinness Marketing Campaign Shows Their Creativity

Secrets to Share on Lego’s Marketing Campaigns

12 Lessons from Ben and Jerry’s Marketing Strategies

Is the Apple Marketing Strategy for iPhone TV Ads Effective?

Emotion is the key to persuasion. Is that a secret? Probably not. But it seems like a hidden truth. Or camouflaged. Certainly, Leo Burnett understands what is needed, though. Certainly something we should learn how to apply well. The Apple marketing strategy certainly has.

Apple marketing strategy
The Apple marketing strategy.

The secret of all effective advertising is not the creation of new and tricky words and pictures, but one of putting familiar words and pictures into new relationships.
–      Leo Burnett
Remember this: My Top SEO Strategies for Content Marketing Success
Apple does what it does so well that there are whole websites out there devoted to nothing but Apple products and Apple marketing. Even high-end journalistic publications like The Atlantic write endlessly about the company, dissecting what it does and how it does it.
More to learn Innovation in Marketing … the Birchbox Subscription Model
I have to admit. I am a big fan of Apple. We have done several analyses of Samsung’s smartphone products.
So it is time to evaluate an Apple ad and marketing strategy. A great competition going on here with two of the world’s heavyweights. Are they great products?  Yep, no doubt.  Both are even better advertising campaigns.
Have you seen the recent Apple iPhone5 TV ad?
If not, you should invest 1 minute now and check it out. It will prove beneficial in reviewing our ad analysis.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu1jHtf_oUc&feature=em-uploademail
Let’s examine this commercial and what contributes to its strengths and weaknesses. And its ability to influence or persuade.
Marketing or advertising, you need to create information that your customers find interesting and worth talking about and remembering. At the end of this article, please comment on whether this advertisement achieves this goal. Let this community know what you think.
Let’s evaluate whether  we believe this is such an effective advertising campaign and why:

Apple marketing strategy … define your positioning

Your frame of reference.  Make comparisons to your competitors if you can. Apple certainly knows who its major competitor is … and it is subtly taking on Galaxy in this campaign and this ad. A good move we believe, as there is nothing to be gained by hammering such a great competitor too directly or too hard.

value propositions
Employing value propositions?

Strong value propositions

If you have a product that truly discriminates you from your competition, build your messages on these. Give your customers reasons to select you. New features to this phone … technology is moving at warp speed, isn’t it?
But not so many compared to Galaxy products. So don’t push. A simple conclusion about a number of customers will suffice.  It is here that they are very subtly taking on Galaxy without saying it. Good strategy.
You can also implement this winning Apple strategy by creating more case studies. Nielsen research on consumer trust in marketing shows that 92% of consumers trust recommendations they get from friends and family, while 70% of shoppers trust opinions from other consumers that are published online, such as reviews.

Be relevant to your target market

Keep in mind that one message does not fit all. It starts with knowing your target market. Here the target markets are families and young people and they are featured prominently in all of the ads. Most of the messages, and there are many good ones, are written for the family members and sharing.
Related post: Some Great Story and Storytelling Examples to Study

grabbing attention
Are you grabbing attention?

Grabbing attention

Interesting information, well presented, showing emotion, always holds attention, yes?  Keep in mind that people don’t watch ads … they watch what interests them. Your ad messages must be interesting to your target communities.
This message certainly grabs and holds attention based on emotion, superb visuals, and a great soundtrack. Letting the visuals totally carry the messages.

Simple  messages

Superb visuals and visuals so simple that you quickly grasp them and don’t lose interest. Keep in mind that pictures are far more valuable than words. And the music has a way to keep you tied in. Creating customer interest does get any simpler than this, does it? A very simple, yet entertaining design, don’t you think? And the real message at the end that is very soft not selling.

Make your ad a component

Always make your ad part of an integrated marketing campaign. There are a series of similar ads in this campaign … all geared to address the iPhone5 value to target customers. All follow the same theme … simply shine a light on the value of the product. Great visuals. Entertaining music. Little talking. Definitely no selling. Taking a page from the Galaxy marketing strategy.

 

 Apple Marketing Strategy … consider the end state values 

Customers and particularly the target customers are looking for new technology features. No reason to buy without these and the marketing strategy certainly is addressing this end state in our opinion. The most important value points.

 

Influence and persuasion

There is no better means of influence or persuasion than emotion. Hands down the best, in our opinion. This commercial focuses on emotional appeal in grand fashion. It is the secret of this commercial’s success.

The bottom line

Remember, it is not what advertising does with the consumer; it is what the consumer does after viewing the advertisement.

Customer engagement
Customer engagement improvements are worth the effort.

 

We believe the Apple marketing strategy is a winner. Simple, yet interesting. Not selling. What do you think?
Does this commercial persuade you?
 
Need some help in capturing more customers from your marketing strategies? Creative ideas to help the differentiation with potential customers?
 
Call today for a FREE consultation or a FREE quote. Learn about some options to scope your job.
Call Mike at 607-725-8240.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new ideas.
When things are not what you want them to be, what’s most important is your next step. Call today.
Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy to improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
 
Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change.  We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed at how reasonable we will be.
  
More reading on social media marketing and advertising from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
What Marketers Need to Know about Personalization Strategies 
19 Top Marketing Initiatives We Should Be Discussing
Press Coverage … 9 Actionable Ways to Get Good Coverage
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+FacebookTwitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.