P&G is known for its smash hit Old Spice campaign, "The man your man can smell like" that exploited the social media realm. Here are some of the results...
In just one month…
- Twitter followers increased 2700%
- Facebook fan interactions went up 800%
- Facebook fans increased 60% (from 500,000 to 800,000)
- Oldspice.com traffic increased 300%
- YouTube subscribers for the brand more than doubled, increasing from 65,000 to 150,000 and Old Spice also became the #1 All-Time Most Viewed and #2 Most Subscribed Branded
Pretty impressive but many skeptics suggested that just because you have success online, doesn't mean you have success in sales. Well, think again...
P&G has figured out that Digital Marketing, in its many varieties, is something they are willing to bet on, to the number of 1,600 employees. Are other CPG companies going to come to the same conclusion and so therefore focus more on digital? At this point it is hard to think that traditional media will ever die but If less dollars are going into traditional marketing, TV ads, print ads, etc., will this become a self fulfilling prophecy? Will traditional media die because it isn't effective or will it die because people stop using it?
As a marketer, these questions will define my future and I feel that P&G has made the first move in a new marketing chess match. It will be interesting to see the counter move by the industry and P&G's competitors. Or is it already checkmate for traditional marketing? time will only tell!
I read this in WSJ and was amazed. Spending smarter on marketing means win for social media, but apparently less jobs for us. :(
ReplyDeleteI think you make some great points. More and more companies are realizing that digital media is powerful and can provide excellent results for their brands. I think as more companies come to this realization, the industry will probably follow P&G's lead and streamline their marketing teams. However, I don't think that traditional media is going away. I would bet it will decline as a percentage of total marketing spend, but smart companies will realize that an integrated approach to marketing, utilizing both traditional and digital platforms, is most effective in most cases. Marketers who can navigate the world of digital marketing will really benefit from this shift in thinking. Glad we're building our social media toolkit now!
ReplyDeleteThat makes me wonder wether genius marketing campaigns will result in cuts elsewhere (on the whole spectrum of business)? It would be a happy day to be the brain behind a brilliant marketing plan; but, followed by a sad day if 1600 employees were laid off. I wonder how much the talent was paid for coming up with this campaign? An additional 5 employee salary? It really does take less people to accomplish more using social media than an army of likeminded marketers... I guess. Or are they limiting their genius capability for campaigns in the future?
ReplyDeleteThe $ shift from traditional media to digital is pretty staggering. The days of traditional or classical marketing are coming to an end. This week Accenture and comScore released a study that shows consumers who visited a CPG brand website spent on average 40% more in brick-and-mortar retail stores -- not just on that brand's products -- but a big lift in total basket spend. That is pretty powerful data showing the impact of digital engagement.
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ReplyDeleteI like this; I just don't see why it will take fewer marketers to manage social media campaigns? Social media requires listening and responding. Some of that can be programmed and automated, but that doesn't sound very social.
ReplyDeleteI don't know very much about the Old Spice organization, but I will bet its campaign requires more marketers now than it did before the handsome, wide-receiver taught us we could smell like he does.
I agree. It seems that it isn't that the jobs are disappearing throughout the industry, but rather they are evolving to embrace the new media. We will still need the creatives, the design guys, the people who can figure out a way to set the product apart from its competitors.
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