With the release of the latest instalment in Walkers’ ‘Crisp In/Crisp Out’ ad series, Marketing Beat takes a closer look at other similar campaigns by British household names and seeks to understand just why such ads are so successful.
Debate-led promotional campaigns will always generate audience engagement, something that is pivotal if a product is to sell well. As a simple and effective way of raising awareness, the ongoing conversations resulting from consumer debates are like gold dust to businesses and agencies.
By creating disagreement, argument or even open, albeit jovial hostility between consumers this kind of advertising can generate a sizeable buzz that traditional campaigns simply can’t match.
With this tactic, brands will essentially look to divide and conquer consumers, and by creating strong enough emotions among the public, will be able to recruit new, ultra-loyal consumer cohorts.
Here we break down historic campaigns from the likes of Marmite, Cadbury and Walkers – all powerhouses of the FMCG industry who have masterfully manipulated public perceptions to create hyper-dedicated consumer fanbases.
“Their slogan alone has likely driven thousands to try their product who may not have.”
Launched in October 1996, the phrase ‘Love it or hate it’ has become synonymous with the Marmite brand, catapulting it into becoming a British cultural icon.
The slogan has become so successful that both it and the brand are now inextricably linked. It has had such an impact on the collective cultural consciousness that a new term, ‘Marmite’ has been coined to describe someone, or something that you either love or hate.
Created by London-based Adam&EveDDB in its then-incarnation of BMP DDB, ‘Love It or Hate It’ crystallises a product’s polarising nature like no other campaign has yet done, and the success that both brand and agency have reaped from it show why.
Marketing growth expert Danny Denhard concurs, pointing to the brand’s audience engagement as key to its success, stating: “Marmite has led the way for brands to lean into what their customers know and think about them.
He argues that Marmite’s decision to continually recycle variations of the same campaign demonstrates an innate understanding of its customer base, consumers continue to react positively to and engage with ‘Love it or Hate it’ even across generational divides. In Denhard’s eyes this clearly shows that Marmite “truly understands its product and truly understands how to connect with its customers.
Undoubtedly, this simple slogan has secured the Unilever-owned firm’s ongoing success through several decades despite the one-dimensional nature of its primary product.
Denhard believes that this highlights how “an easy message can be key to success and specifically key to sales success, their slogan alone has likely driven thousands to try their product who may not have.”
He also touches on the loyal cohorts of fans that the slogan has recruited, adding that the brand now has “lifelong fans who will promote their love for the product whenever it is mentioned.”
“Product and slogan go hand in hand for so many people.”
First launched in the 1980s, Cadbury Creme Egg’s ‘How do you eat yours’ is another long-term success story.
Similarly to Marmite, key to this slogan is generating audience response and engagement and through the process of driving debate, organically building brand and product awareness.
Creating distinct tribes or cohorts by dividing people into groups according to how they eat their creme egg draws the consumer into a personal relationship with the product, as it allows them to customise their experience and create a feeling of individuality.
The slogan has proved versatile, too – crucial to any campaign if it’s to have genuine longevity – as we can see with London-based VCCP’s recent twist on the phrase to promote the Creme Egg hunt earlier this year: ‘How do you NOT eat yours?’
Denhard perfectly encapsulates the campaign’s lasting impact on British culture, calling it “iconic” and adding that it is “generational for those who loved it in the 1980s all the way through to the 2020s.”
Once again he points to the brand’s ability to engage directly with its customer base as the key to its success, saying: “the traditional slogan ‘How do you eat yours?’ was and is a hot topic of conversation whenever someone buys or eats one.”
He adds that “product and slogan go hand in hand for so many people.” Demonstrating again how the Mondelez-owned brand, like Marmite has hit upon such a successful advertising formula that both the slogan and the product have become virtually indiscernible.
“Crisp In or Crisp Out is deliberately uncomplicated at a time when a lot of things feel complicated.”
Walkers, another powerhouse name in Britain’s FMCG industry has also benefited from many an iconic brand campaign over the years, spearheaded by Leicester’s favourite son Gary Lineker, since 1995.
The PepsiCo-owned brand’s agency of record VCCP struck gold with the implementation of its Crisp In or Crisp Out campaign launched last Spring, successfully creating debate among the British public on whether people eat their sandwiches with crisps inside or without.
The simple, yet highly effective question has real potential for significant longevity, and Walkers evidently think so, having invested over £3 million into last year’s campaign and partnering with US fast-food giant Subway for good measure.
According to a Kantar study conducted at the time, the ad was in the ‘98th percentile’ for expressiveness among audiences, reinforcing what we already know – that campaigns focused on engaging with audiences on a personal level tend to perform very strongly.
This year’s edition of the campaign openly plays upon the disagreements it can cause by creating a mock political debate featuring various celebrities.
However, the simplicity of the slogan is what ensures its success, as Denhard points out it is “deliberately uncomplicated at a time when a lot of things feel complicated.”
Walkers’ aim, which is to maximise public engagement, is clear for all to see and at times its attempts at creating tribes or groups tends to be a little overstated.
However, the campaign’s success is obvious and whether we like it or not – Walkers’ debate draws us all in as invariably we will be in one camp or the other.
Essentially, what these brands and their agencies have understood above all is that engaging on a direct, personal level with your audience will ensure greater levels of identification with your product than other campaign could achieve.
By causing debate and manipulating consumers into tribal groups, you may shut out a certain percentage of your potential customer base, but the ones you recruit will often be fiercely loyal and in many cases become generational brand loyalists.
Click here to sign up to Marketing Beat’s free daily email newsletter
