So Motrin decided to air an advertisement that seemed to do nothing but upset a bunch of moms. And a day later, they ran away leaving a trail of apologies and poor PR. The firestorm of anti-Motrin on Twitter and other sites was evidently too much and too scary for Motrin.
Even at best the ad needed a clearer message. To me the spot has all sorts of secondary connotations. Baby slings hurts, moms are weak, moms are silly for using baby slings, baby slings are only fashionable, moms need pain killers all day, babies cause pain and hence moms need pain killers. The list could go on. The spot starts off with “In theory…” which is equivalent to an “I love you, but…”
Who was the ad agency? Is that agency just either completely out of touch with their audience? Or do they just have no cahones to stand up for their work? I think it’s both. If you ever have to do a focus group, this is why you should pay attention to it, and not just listen for what you want to hear.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-talk-motrinnov18,0,1054732.htmlstory
CEOs of small companies and start ups like to say they have no competition. No one else is doing what we’re doing. Or we have no direct compettion. Sometimes it is just a line fed to the press. There’s nothing more annoying than having great press about your organization also mention your direct competitors.
However, often times indirect competition is overlooked. Those making tri-colored carbon paper met there demise not from a familiar foe, but rather the indirect competitor Xerox. Fax machines makers lost out to a better, faster fax machine model, but rather to e-mail.
So if you’re a journalist, don’t buy the “we don’t have any competitors” line. And if you’re at a start-up, you ALWAYS have competitors. And often times, the ones that kick your butt are the ones you never saw coming.