Ads that stimulate a two-way conversation

by Jamie Bell and Iain Hunter, marketingdirectmag.co.uk 10-Jul-09, 17:09

Brand awareness is great, and ditto for immersing your audience in a fantastic brand experience. But, argue CMW creative directors Jamie Bell and Iain Hunter, the holy grail of communications is to get people talking to each other, and if you do it right, back to you.

We have found four very different examples that do exactly that.

'Start thinking soldier' is an online campaign for the Army that invites you to join the army on missions and do exactly that. Tonally it feels dead on – adult yet fun. And whether you’re testing your leadership skills or practising with a rocket launcher (we got closer to Basildon than Basra) I can’t believe the yoof of today won’t find this more engaging than drawing a face on a piece of fruit and uploading it on their Facebook profile.

I’m also betting that more than a few of them will want to continue the conversation, either on the information line or at one of the recruitment days.

Army: 'recipients will want that conversation to continue'

I don't know about you but we rarely keep an alcohol unit calculator handy when we’re out on the sauce - but there’s an iPhone app idea. Proximity got round the problem another way on behalf of Diageo: they sent sets of pool balls to student unions, with each of the balls labelled with a different drink and the number of alcohol units it contained.

Starting the conversation in the most relevant place you could possibly have it is smart, and the postcards and beer mats allowed the students to take the conversation somewhere more private if they had genuine concerns.

Diageo: 'students could take the conversation somewhere more private'

If you were walking down the street and you saw a billboard about quick train times would you look? Maybe. How about if that same billboard had a headline written just for you, with a moving cursor pointing in your direction? As conversational ideas go you don't get more engaging than Virgin Trains' talking billboard.

Each passer-by was singled out (by a copywriter hidden across the street) with an impromptu, personalised message designed to dramatise the quick journey time from Liverpool to London. And when your idea is captivating enough to elicit a response from a couple of hoodies – job well done.

Virgin Trains: 'captivating'

Starting a conversation with someone through a piece of direct marketing will live or die by how well you understand your audience. Which is why this clever campaign from Wunderman for Kern works so well. Kern sells precision weights and scales to scientists and precision engineers – for whom accuracy is crucial.

Kern’s scales measure to seven decimal points, so the team used it to measure the outer (factoring in the moisture on the stamp), the business card (plus the weight of the ink and fingerprints) and a compliment slip (taking into account humidity and air pressure). All in all, a smart, charming campaign that knows exactly who it’s talking to.