Does advertising really work?

If You're Trying To Get New Customers, You Advertise On Social Media. It's What You Do.

Everyone instantly recognizes a GEICO commercial when they see their spokesgecko, but they have a whole series of commercials without him as well. Their "It's what you do" set of advertisements are very funny. A quick search for GEICO on YouTube will put more of these ads than you knew existed right in front of your eyes. GEICO even has an official Twitter account! Since they joined Twitter in early 2009, GEICO has amassed a following of over 45 thousand people, and tweeted more than 5 thousand times. They have a separate account specifically focused on customer service, and direct you to tweet at that handle if you're having any issues. In addition to those, GEICO also has twitter accounts for their racing and powersport teams, and whether official or not, the GEICO Gecko and Caveman also have their own accounts as well.

While I'm sure GEICO's target audience would be the giant umbrella category of "anyone who drives a car", the new ads featuring silly situations seem to be more tuned toward gen X and gen Y (do gen Z kids drive yet?) drivers who would be more susceptible to humor. I feel like their campaign is working, though I haven't seen the data from drivers who insure with GEICO from before and after their new ads. I do know that GEICO is well known, and most people I know can quote at least a half dozen of their commercials. The only downside I see is that I don't think of GEICO as a respectable insurance company. Sure they have lots of commercials on tv, and I like the gecko, but when it came time for me to spread my wings and leave the comfort of my parent's insurance, GEICO was not even on my radar as an option. I know I'm just one consumer and not everyone shares my views. GEICO has been around for over 75 years, so clearly at least one of their marketing campaigns has worked to keep them going.

Jeff Jarvis talks about several ways in which advertising needs to change. My favorite proposal he had was that "competitors who learn to target customers-by relevance, not by content or demographics-will increase effectiveness and efficiency and lower their cost." One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is to crochet. I don't really ever see many advertisements for yarn or tools or patterns, and sometimes I really would like to! The biggest problem I have is that when I finally do see an ad for something related to my craft, it seems that they are all targeted toward the grandmotherly types - the blue haired generation with arthritis. I'm even more likely to NOT buy a product if I only see older people using it. I love when I can go on Pinterest and see other people my age sharing pattern ideas or blogs about different products. It's free advertising for the companies, but I think it would be fantastic to see more ads that are not targeted at the older generations. Crocheting has somehow become fairly popular with the younger crowd lately and it would be great if the yarn/hook companies targeted us as well.

OK, So What Works and What Doesn't?

I'm a sucker for a food commercial. Especially one that is shown when my tummy is already screaming to be fed. I also love commercials that are not what you would expect. One of my favorite commercials that I've seen recently on TV is for Burger King Chicken Fries. The best one shows a daughter chicken with her french fry boyfriend telling her chicken parents that she is pregnant and is going to have chicken fries. The hen mother freaks out and starts flapping around and the father rooster yells for eveyrone to calm down. This is definitally a humor technique, bringing chickens to life and putting them in a situation that is the nightmare of every parent. They are targeting people who haven't been to Burger King for a while as they are bringing back an old favorite, and also targeting younger people who are easily swayed by commercials about food. I would say this commercial definitally works, as the first time I saw it, I laughed out loud and then sent my husband right out to get some.

 
There is a series of commercials out there that use plain-folks approches to their advertisements, and also throw in some really bad animated graphics. I'm sure just about anyone with a TV set has seen the commercials for The General Insurance. They show everyday people at home, work and sometimes at play on the tennis courts or softball field. The newer ads show people wearing green army helmets as they go about their daily life, and when asked about it, the response is "oh, I just insured my car through The General" like that is an acceptable response as to why you're wearing a helmet at your office job or to lounge around the house. They are targeting people with low incomes who want to save as much money as possible by finding the cheapest insurance option around. While they may have low prices on their insurance plans, I would go out of my way to avoid using their company based on their commercials. I just can't take them seriously when they use such bad actors in weird situations like that.

It's like they're trying to tell potential customers, "look how ridiculous you can look if you use our insurance!"