These few days (May 5) there have been a advertisement being widely shared on Facebook. The content is a picture of a whole family. The dad looks handsome and the mom pretty, however, the kids didn’t seem to get the ‘good’ genes and look quite ‘plain’. These three kids look like they’re ‘produced’ from the same ‘models’ and the same ‘factory’ and you wonder how on earth happened? Then you saw the tagline reads “The only thing you need to worry about is how to explain to your kids”, you had a sudden realization.
This is an advertisement from a cosmetic plastic surgery clinic. The children look plain is not because they didn’t inherit the good genes but because their parents went through the extreme ‘makeover’!
This ad has an excellent slogan to go with it which not only makes people laugh but have a lasting impression. Without a doubt, it is a successful ad. It fulfills the purpose of communicating with the consumers even though through a controversial means which caused quite a heated debate on and off TV. For example, this ‘discrimination or creativity’ illustrates how the clinic, Simple Beauty caused quite a controversy.
An ad with a small budget, and only appeared on Upaper (designated ad section on the metro) can became an instant hit in such short amount of time. It is a true example of an ‘earned media’ (through PR, Facebook or word of mouth). This should be the case that reflects ‘if a ad is a hit, the brand should benefit’, however, why would I think, quite the opposite, this is a piece that ‘the song is a hit, but the singer is a miss’?
The problem lies in the fact that Simple Beauty picked ad appeal it can’t afford.
‘Making people beautiful’ is the basic function of any plastic surgery clinic. It is the fundamental element to any plastic surgery clinic, just as you aim to provide delicious gourmet when you open a restaurant. However, this doesn’t mean that any brand that adopts this kind of ‘position’ can become the leading brand in the market.
It is precisely because Simple Beauty is not the leading brand in the market, a lot of consumers may not have heard of them before. The fact that they aimed to occupy the core market share in this market with their debut ad, makes me want to dedicate this song ‘Hands too small’ by Shino Lin, “I know my hands are too small and I dream too much, I can’t hold very much.”
It is not my aim to give them the ‘bad omen’, you could clearly find proof from its official Facebook page. They established the fan page on November, 2011 and the amount of fans on the site as of May 6 are only 201 people, of which 100 of them only joined in the past few days. Compared with the shared ad on Facebook, where more than 1600 people liked the ad and have been re-shared for more than 400 times, the gap between the ad and the brand itself is truly worlds apart.
Looking back at the ad history of Taiwan, not only small brands would run into this kind of situation, brand as big as McDonald’s also had similar mishap.
I couldn’t remember when exactly did McDonald advertised ‘McSpicy Chicken Fillet Burger’, but their top opponent in Taiwan, also known as for their expertise in chicken cuisine, KFC launched similar product long before that and had secured top brand in the chicken burger category.
I believe many people, like me who after watching McDonald’s commercial, went to order ‘McSpicy’ in KFC. This is what happened when you do marketing without differentiating yourself in the market. The leading brand will enjoy the biggest advantage of the allocated category which is the pervasiveness. Therefore even though you spend big buck on an ad that everyone remembers, chances are, consumers may well likely go to your competitor’s store.
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About Author
Mika, Internet Marketing Observer
Born in the 60s, Mika has worked in the field of consumption marketing for decades. He experienced brand strategy, product concept all the way to official launch. He cars about traditional marketing model as well as the changes arise from Web2.0 and social media.
Blog: jabamay.blogspot.com
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