out of the blue

 As mentioned before, part of the genius of Victoria’s Secret marketing and advertising lies within its subtlety.  Consumers don’t always initially realize they are being advertised to, and therefore are more likely to buy from the company.  This week, however, when I was researching the latest trends in marketing, I came across a website that begs the question, Can you ever be too subtle in your marketing campaign?.  As of right now, I am still undecided as to the exact answer to the question, but I’d like to share a few thoughts.

After reading Chris Reidy’s article, “Nuance Website May Leave You Tongue-tied” in the Boston Globe, I was curious to check out a website recently launched by Mullen ad agency for Nuance Communications, Inc.  Nuance Communications is creator of the DragonNaturallySpeaking products, a line of programs that afford you the convenience of putting away your writing instruments and your typing fingers- basically talk to type programs where the program magically knows what you are saying and the words appear on your computer screen, in your email, etc.  Mullen has created frozenpole.com, a website so seemingly-pointless, you don’t even realize you’re being advertised to.  But will it work?

Frozenpole.com is simple.  Basically, you upload a picture of your face, pick an outfit for your little skier to wear and then attach yourself to a place in a ski resort that has metal.  Once attached to something metal, you can pick a holiday greeting and customize it.  Your skier will then “say” your greeting as though his or her tongue is attached to a pole.  You can send this animation greeting to anyone via email.  It sounds bizarre, I know- you really have to check it out yourself to understand what it is.  The only hints of this frozenpole.com being an advertisement come with the tiny little icon that says “DragonNaturallySpeaking” on the bottom left hand corner of the animation or in the email that your recipient receives with the link to the animation.   You can click on this icon and it will take you to the company’s website. That’s it!  There is no other way to know why this website is up- it could be some creepy old man in a basement with too much time on his hands.  

The pro of frozenpole.com or subtle advertising is that you keep your consumer entertained.  Even while I write this article, I am tempted to run home, upload a picture of my face, and send it to all my friends.  I really just might do this too.  I, the consumer, am endlessly entertained by frozenpole.com.  If I were in the market to buy talk to type software, I just might consider DragonNaturallySpeaking.  I’m not, however, and I can tell you what- I would still compare prices and if someone boring offered me the same program for less, I would use it.

So, that leads me to the obvious con of subtle advertising-inability to reach an audience that cares.  With frozenpole.com, you’re probably going to get a bunch of kids who don’t have any interest in your product going to make skiers with tongue-tied greetings. It will snowball (hah, pun intended) and soon more and more kids will receive this message and pass it on to more and more kids who don’t care.

Of course, I have to look at the fact that this website has already drawn nation-wide attention. So companies/individuals who are interested in talk to type software have inadvertently just been advertised to.  So maybe it is working?

Overall, it’s best to consider your budget when thinking of taking subtlety to the extreme when marketing your product.  If you have money to blow-go for it! Otherwise, I‘d recommend being a little more straightforward in advertising your product. Sure it’s good to be subtle, but the consumer needs to know why a website is up. It’s nice to make life fun for people- but do it for yourself too- by putting a little extra green in your pocket. 

Sources: http://www.boston.com/business/ticker/2008/12/nuance_website.html

              www.frozenpole.com