Friday, November 23, 2012

Does it make sense for Ocean Spray to use their popular spokespeople to fight the government?


Since 2005, Ocean Spray has been running a campaign that features two guys in a bog.  It’s been a big hit with the public and according to Ace Metrix, which measures ad effectiveness based on consumer surveys about persuasion and watchability, it is among the top five brands in its category this year. (Lukovitz, 2012)

So imagine my surprise when I saw that Ocean Spray had decided that not only was it good policy to fight the NYC ban against the sale of sugared beverages over the size of 16 ounces, but chose to do so using their spokespeople.  I have to wonder what they were thinking.  Suger-sweetened drinks are the single largest source of calories in our diet; type 2 diabetes is increasing by epidemic proportions; and they want to be exempt from the ban because cranberries are healthy if you don’t add sugar to them?  It boggles the mind.  (Brody, 2012)

But what puzzles me more is why they would take their comic duo and put them in this video.  What do you think?  Will they be able to use these guys in their advertising again after this?
 
 
 
Lukovitz, K. (2012, November 14)  Ace Releases Brand Of The Year ‘Watch List’. mediapost.com.  Retrieved November 22, 2012, from
 
Brody, J. (2012, October 23)  In Fighting Obesity, Drink Sizes Matter.  The New York Times.  p. D7

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

To my mind, the video sends mixed messages. On one hand, the company CEO is informing the public about cranberries' health benefits, on the other the farmers are making fun of these benefits by acting a bit goofy. I think the humor doesn't work in this ad. They should either concentrate on the facts and leave the comedy out or just have the farmers doing their part. All in all, confused message leaves the consumers confused.

Kaisa

Carlota said...

Like Kaisa, I think this video may confuse consumers, because they are giving the audience double messages that could affect the reliability of the brand.

I believe Ocean´s Spray advertising campaign it’s an example of how humorous ads can be very successful and appealing to consumers. But this time I think something went wrong, because the mix of messages and tonalities only confused many of us, and many others can heavily misinterpret the use of comedy.

As a marketer I believe it is really important to know when and where to use different tonalities to be able to get effectively to the audience, if not the entire campaign may be counterproductive… I hope this doesn´t happen to Ocean Spray.