I confess I was in two minds about whether to comment about the “50 Shades Of Grey” phenomenon…
…but given the blanket media coverage this week ahead of the film’s release (conveniently timed for Valentine’s Day…a nice marketing touch) I decided it would be remiss of me not to make a few marketing-linked observations.
Plus…it gives me a semi-plausible reason to use the attention-getting picture at the top of this post!
First up, whenever there is a popular sensation like “50 Shades” it gives a marketer the opportunity to tap into the “water-cooler” conversation that’s going on. If even someone like me…
…who hasn’t read the books, has no intention of seeing the film and generally doesn’t have any great personal interest in the popular culture…
…is aware of it, then you can be pretty sure most people out there will know about “50 Shades”. Even if it’s only to poke fun at what’s going on (note the Lego version of the film trailer!). Whatever, pretty much everyone will have an opinion.
The controversy that the film has attracted only adds to the “buzz”.
Now, in your business it might not be appropriate to make a direct link, but with a little imagination you might be surprised at possible connections and it’s an opportunity to tap into the conversation.
Next up…
…let me applaud the success of the author, “E.L.James” (really a lady called Erika Mitchell). By any standards the books have been a huge success, selling well over 100 million copies worldwide and, of course, leading to a film adaption that looks like it’s going to be a big success (advance bookings are already the fourth highest on record). There are also associated merchandising deals, taking full advantage of the opportunity that the success provides.
Note, of course that there is a trilogy of the books. So if something is working for you, the lesson is to give your audience more along the same lines.
I was intrigued to discover that in fact the books started out as a kind of “fan fiction” based on the Twilight series of novels (themselves hardly original). Another example showing that you don’t necessarily have to come up with something completely new, simply a new version.
And the themes of “50 Shades” are nothing new. “9 ½ Weeks” anyone?
Finally, returning to riff off of the title of the post…
…a reminder of what is probably the greatest marketing sin…
…one that probably will be punished with poor results…
…being boring!
The great David Ogilvy made the observation…
“You cannot bore people into buying your product”.
An awful lot of marketing is pretty bland and indistinguishable from the thousands of other advertising messages that assault the senses of the average individual. Naturally, to protect ourselves, we tend to screen out most ads. So not only do you need to grab attention, but you need to be both interesting and relevant to your prospective customer.
Don’t end up as simply another one of the “50 Shades Of Marketing Grey”!