Hyundai Who30?
You know that Hyundai i30 ad with the cop out of the first season Underbelly? He introduces us to the barista who drives a Hyundai because it suits her lifestyle? In the the 30 seconds it goes to air we’re introduced to her, learn a bit about her and meant to trust her.
“Ooh she looks friendly. I like friendly people. Oooh she’s a barista. I know lots of nice baristas. Ooooh she drives a Hyundai. I want to drive a Hyundai.”
Sadly, it doesn’t work like that. She’s an actress.
But what if it was a real person? What if we could go online and find her online profile dating back to 2005? What if we knew wher lifestyle and what she does on the weekend? What if we could start talking to her? What if we could ask her real questions about her real car and get her real opinion?
Wouldn’t that be cool? I’d consider trusting her then.
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Great post, Nath.
Your blog post took the words right out of my… well, next post. This is something I have been thinking about for a while and have a case study on it from a social marketing perspective.
Basically, we used real-life people in our first advertising campaign and included profiles of them via the website for our audience to view if desired. The people in the campaign were crowdsourced, and chosen for their representation of our target audience. Key insights from our market research highlighted key traits we wanted to communicate via these people in our above the line elements.
Short story? It worked. The trust generated was incredible. It changed our brand, meaning that instead of being seen as a faceless organisation, we suddenly had street-cred with Gen Y (our target audience). Also, the WOM it generated was fantastic.. from the kids we used in the campaign and their networks, through to our grass-roots influencers.
Now, to write this case study up!
I’ve actually stopped to wonder if the O’Brien guy is from O’Brien. If not, there wouldn’t be any trust lost, more interest in the casting.
I’m aware of something coming up in 2010 that will really focus on how the audience relates to the people promoting the product – I think it’s so exciting. I can see a lot of challenges too so let’s hope it’s a success!
Oops.. and one more point to support your assertion:
I think using real-life people instead of actors in ‘trust-based’ advertising, such as the Hyundai i30 TVC you point out, but also anything from AAMI’s call lady ads, RACV’s ‘trust Jason’ campaign… is a good strategy.
When Aussie actors are taking any job they can (like Rodger Corser) you run the risk of your brand ambassador getting caught in a scandal thus harming your campaign. But real-life people because of their anonymity, don’t really pose this issue?
@ Karalee – looking forward to the case study. We’ll post a link when you have it live. And good thing Hyundai couldn’t afford Tiger Woods.
@ Mandi – I wonder in Bunnings do castings or they just find staff bludging on the job and force them to be in a TVC? Fair to say they’re not actors and even though they’re being paid by Bunnings I somehow still trust them?? Let us know more on that project when you can..
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Another Advertising Wanker
Nathan Bush
Interactive Strategist, BCM
Brisbane, Australia
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