Thursday, February 15, 2007
Thot bubbled #37
Sometimes I think sampling is the best way to build a brand. If you have a great product, the only advertising you might ever need to invest in is sampling. Example: Google. Once you get people to try a great product, they'll do the rest of the advertising for it. People love to seem smart. And the smartest thing anyone can do is ask someone else to use a good product. In this day and age of high cynicism, anyone who can recommend something worthwhile will always be appreciated. Hmm...I wonder what other categories could make the most out of sampling, more than any other media. Question: Should sampling be included as part of the media plan? Related thot: Tryvertising. Okay, this is going on for a bit. Anyway, it's worth investing some thoughts into. I think.
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11 comments:
I guess that's one reason advertisers should look at social networking sites like Digg and Stumbleupon a little more carefully. At least, until they, too, get infiltrated by big business.
Hey Saurabh,
Did u ever studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya Namkum Bazar, Ranchi ?
Mr Fido, you can reach me at amitkmis@gmail.com
I totally agree with UberM on this one. I have been thinking about the power of sampling too thanks to a couple of powerful examples I have experienced in the recent past.
One was Google Adwords. It's a service that allows anyone to place ads on websites/blogs. Normally I would have never considered it at all. But I got a free coupon from Google and I tried it - and it opened avenues to so many new things I would have never known otherwise. I have subsequently used it to promote an online quiz I run and a movie review blog I promote.
The second is Putumayo - a music label that specialises in world music. I had vaguely heard about it until I ran into a syndicated radio show on Radio Indigo called the Putumayo World Music Hour. The CEO of the company Dan Storper and a co-host present world music in interesting sets - like music from countries on the equator, or pop music influenced by world music, etc.
Prior to hearing the show, I had no interest in world music at all. Now I have great interest in it (the radio show is the highlight of my sunday) and am even considering picking some of Putumayo's titles (and I rarely buy music CDs.)
I guess sampling works wonders in cases where consumers would have never voluntarily experienced the product themselves - or are too unfamiliar with the product/ category.
Sampling becomes a problem when the value of the product is high. Interestingly, sampling can become an experience then. Recently, had to do some kind of experience promotion for a client with business school grads, since the value of the product was very high, we had to set up mini labs for them to touch, feel and use the product. It worked wonders. Yes, a very effective tool to induce trial for unfamiliar products.
It can also be a very effective tool for users to experience unfamiliar brands. If you can position your brand as better than any other brand and tell consumers to come and try it, it would work for familiar product categories too. My question: Why would sampling not work for familiar product categories?
The key word here being "good product".
Its natural for sampling to work when you know that the experience of the product is sure to get anyone hooked! (barring price barriors)
So its important to be careful if you are not a Google or an Apple or a Johny Walker.
When FMCG brands give away free sachets with magazines etc, it rarely leads to brand preference and loyalty.
Whisper had done a very smart thing when i was in school. Don't know if they still do it. They visited my school and gave away more than just free samples (they also provided education and guidance on the delicate subject) I later learnt that they did this across schools across the country!
So, they were a superior product that reached out to its target in a beautiful way at the relevant time.
I feel Whisper would have done just as well even without any mainstream advertising.
They could have spend that money also on visiting schools!
I reached this site through the post 'Have question - Don't Ask' and have been enjoying the posts and the discussions since.
Sampling like any other tool becomes a self-defeating and meaningless exercise when I find samples infiltrating my world and becoming ubiquitous. Sometimes magazines have page after page of perfume samples - the effect can be nauseating. It reminds me of walking into a shoppers stop in early days where saleswomen competed with each other to spray their wares on to an unsuspecting audience. The other reservation I have is with sampling food / personal care products by an unfamiliar brand due to the fear that i may not respond to those favourably.
Also, there is a perception amongst people - that the qualities of produce is samples is different from that in the regular pack - done so deliberately to entice the customer.
Pooja - I remember whisper visiting my school too - along with some other brands - trinka (ready to consume drink) and cup-a-noodles.
Sampling is a powerful marketing tool. But in the recent past I guess it has been abused. Primarily because just because one brand found success every other brand irrespect of the category wants to jump onto the bandwagon and leverage on it.
Yes it can be powerful when used effectively.
The first consideration for a brand manager is the cost of running a sampling program - more than the mechanism. Will giving away samples actually lead to trials - and subsequent purchases? Will the repeat purchases offset my investment in running the sampling program?
Proctor does a whole lot of educative programs. It's very relevant to their audience, young girls. Also, because it gets in early into the lifestage of their consumers. I remember oral care clinics - from Colgate and Maggi (which was a huge exercise - this was a time before noodles/snacking became popular)
I've liked most of IQ's examples - but these are all "long tail" sort of products. Virtual and therefore, lending themselves to experiential trials more easily. Apple does a great job just as well, genius bars and all of that. But..how does one translate this for normal everyday packaged goods?
My best guess is that a sampling or activation program doesn't work in isolation - executed well, the cost of mass media advertising provides a better return on investment for the owner than a sampling program carried out in isolation.
My thot was anging for something slightly more provocative. I was wondering whether we should re-categorise sanpling as not something which is part of the prmotional mix but something that should be looked as as part of the media plan? I agree with most of what is being said here. I'm just wondering whether, as Manish suggested in his post about the death of the consumer, we should look at the rebirth of sampling as a media baby. Of course, there are plenty of holes in this therory and that's why it's been much fun to crack it open. It's fun being in Planning. :-)
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