Degree deodorant, which admittedly has a stake in whether or not people exercise, has launched an out-of-home campaign encouraging people to exercise. Given that a recent Gallup survey found that people have exercised 38% less during the pandemic, the timing seems right.
But will it work?
Some of the messages -
"Bus Late? Try 20 lunges for every minute you wait."
"Sitting all day? Try 5 deep jumps before and after you drive."
"Still Walking? Put on a good beat and move those feet."
Would any of these motivate you? How about someone else? Would different messaging persuade you? What and why? Which persuasive techniques would you employ to motivate people to exercise more? Any evidence that they would work?
Bednarski, P. (2020, October 16) Degree Deodorant OOH Campaign Urges You To Exercise. mediapost.com. Retrieved October 20, 2020, from
6 comments:
The degree deodorant campaign: out-of-home (OOH), would not automatically motivate me to complete 20 lunges at a bus stop, or for that matter work out. Could it motivate someone else? I think we would have to learn what motivates people to work out as a whole. Is it a campaign, personal goal, the community that we’re surrounded by, or is it the people we choose to be around that motivate us? Only then would someone be able to guarantee one’s motivation to work out.
People are often motivated by many different reasons. Some consider physical activity (PA) to be an essential part of their day, while others might not think so. This leads me to think, who their target market was but also how the survey was conducted, was it completed in person, online, or by phone?
Individualistically, I like to work out. Is it a lifestyle for me? Probably not so much because of the many obligations I am tied to at the moment. However, because I was a spin instructor for four years, I find that my association with people by the way of influence is mostly by those in the fitness world and online. I follow them on Instagram (IG) Facebook (FB) and my motivation to work out is mostly through these social platforms. For some reason, I don’t find that marketing strategies in the way of a poster gain much of my attention. I am not sure if working in retail has affected my judgment or has made me much more of a sharp judge of marketing strategies. However, in order to motivate me, I would need to experience more than just reading a poster. I suppose that luxury or spontaneity would motivate me in a way to engage, but even then, it would have to be great.
A persuasive technique that I would consider Degree to establish is to put their idea to the test. Perhaps, Degree and Equinox could partner up, for an outdoor pop-up, to prove that “Degree in motion would activate a fragrance” (Bednarski, 2020). The experiment could be to hold a cycling session outdoors, or a group fitness class outdoors while proving this concept true at the end of the group fitness demonstration. As we know it to be true, reviews on what people buy, and what others think of service level are important to how consumers shop today. As the case may be, if these reviews after the group session were recorded and posted to a state-of-the-art kiosk(s) throughout New York City, then perhaps this would motivate me to not only buy Degree but to get myself into a group fitness class.
Antoshka, Jonathan
References:
Bednarski, P. (2020, October 16). Degree Deodorant OOH Campaign Urges You To Exercise -- It's Good For Business. Retrieved October 22, 2020, from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/356927/degree-deodorant-ooh-campaign-urges-you-to-exercis.html?utm_source=newsletter
I appreciate that Degree pairs the need for exercise (and the physical and mental wellbeing that comes with it) with their brand. They are using a brand-related PSA to consumers. I think it makes the audience think about their recent exercise patterns and perhaps they would walk a few more blocks or consider being more active, but ultimately probably wouldn't get much traction.
The obstacles to overcome are breaking social norms and timing. I would feel silly to do 10 lunges at a bus stop in my nice work clothes which I might get sweaty or ruin. However when I take my kids to the playground, I wear workout clothes and I do squats, lunges and jumps while I play with them or push them on the swings. I only started doing this because my husband (who works at a desk all day) does this with them on the weekend to multitask and it provided the Social Proof for me to do it as well (plus the playground floor is really bouncy!)
They could add social proof with giving a statistic about others in the neighborhood that add physical activity to their routine.
They could show a Likable, Attractive celebrity doing the same, and make a catch phrase that's sticky.
They could connect it with the reason WHY one would exercise. If connected with the Social Cause relevant to the demographic, could resonate with parents/ grandparents who what to be healthy for their kids, or reduce the burden on hospitals.
They could target Consistency and bolster their ego celebrating they were active last time and should do it again.
They could use Positional Concerns and make it sexy - exercise to look fit to attract a mate. Those extra 10 lunges might lift that booty to make the difference. :)
This ad however, is really trying to discuss "self-care" but doesn't get emotional enough about it. "Sitting all day? Try 5 deep jumps before and after you drive."
I think they could raise the level of emotion on the self-care/ health and wellness topic and get better traction since emotions would change the audience's behavior rather than this logical approach.
T e r e s a
“Out-of-home” is definitely a positive campaign since people are really lacking exercise during this pandemic. However, I don’t think this would work as planned. First, some people really care about other people’s opinions and they don’t want to get too much attention from others. For instance, if you are waiting in line at the bus stop, and you suddenly decided to do some push-ups. You might not feel comfortable cause other people might be confused and not understand what are you doing. Second, people’s own attitude toward exercise is way more important than a single campaign. Personally, I like to work out and it’s more like one of my habits. During this pandemic, it’s not possible to exercise at the gym every single day. However, for those people who enjoy doing exercise, they would do lunges, push-ups at home instead! Some people would take this pandemic as an excuse for not doing exercise, in fact, the same group wouldn’t do any exercise even this pandemic not exist. It’s not just like can you do exercise, it’s more like if you want to do it. I think this campaign would be more efficient to focus on changing people’s attitudes rather than simply ask people to do it.
Zhengbiao Ji
Personally, none of these messages would motivate me and I don’t think they would motivate others either. The reason is that these messages simply contain a suggestive or imperative tone to ask the audiences to do some exercises in different scenarios, but they don’t have anything motivating like a positive reason or result of doing these exercises. When there are no reasons or results that people can expect by doing something, it’s really hard to motivate them to do so.
I think using the Principle of Authority within the Principles of Persuasion is a better approach. For example, these messages would be more motivating if they contain scientific data that support the benefits of doing these exercises in different scenarios. Like how many minutes of potential exercise that people actually missed in these scenarios and how many percent of lung volume that people can improve by doing these exercises. For me, when I’m seeing these positive reasons and results of doing the exercises, I would be motivated by these messages.
Personally this kind of Ads does not excite me and I don't think it would motivate people to exercise while waiting for bus because often times we tent to think "how others will react" or in general this is something that we are not ready for. Having more statistics about the "importance of exercise" and making a transition with the product would have been more appropriate. Also creating an App that will track data would work even more because pandemic made many people suffer to maintain their healthy lifestyle.
This would motivate me because it doesn't take much to get me to exercise as I already enjoy it. However, I don't think it will motivate someone who doesn't already feel like working out. It is not really an engaging, shocking, or emotional message at all. Which i think does little to stir action in people when that is not present. It's kind of a lazy ad.
N.O.
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