In our last blog, we talked a bit about marketing messaging and some of the art and science that goes into creating a compelling, relevant, message. Since then, I had the opportunity to catch an ad campaign that, for once in a long time, (in my own humble opinion, anyway) puts some of that art and science to work in a beautiful way.
First, remember Abe Maslow? If you recall, Maslow was the psychologist who figured out that each person has about five levels of needs. He called this his “hierarchy of needs” and to visualize it, he built a triangle. At the bottom of the triangle was the need for basics such as food and clothing. In the middle were safety and friendship. At the top was self-actualization.
If you recall from our last post, this is important because when we are developing the marketing messaging around our products, we want to talk to our audience at the very highest level of the triangle. And that’s because the higher up you go in the triangle, the more important (and emotional), that level of need becomes. I used the example of the hitchhiker and their sign. Which one gets the ride faster? “Miami” or “Home for Thanksgiving with Mom”? The latter of the two, of course: The one that appealed to the emotions of the driver who stopped to provide the ride.
Backing up a bit, I’m probably one of the harshest critics of marketing creative within several hundred miles of Atlanta. That’s because I grew up in the industry. Case in point: Friends over for football. Come commercial break, everyone finds a reason to get up and leave, to get something to eat or take a “bio break.” I’m the one who stays. This is probably because every spot takes me back to my ad agency days, when my writer partner and I sweated over a creative brief, put our hearts and souls into a concept, storyboarded it and then, presenting it to the layers and layers of agency and client-side decision-makers, hoped it would actually become a commercial. Sometimes, those concepts made the air, more often than not however, they contributed to my “file” of commercial ideas that never saw the light of day… a pile of 20 x 30 foam core boards in the corner of my office.
So, what is this campaign of commercials that I enjoyed (and appreciated for both its creative and strategic brilliance) so much that I felt compelled to write about it? It’s a campaign created on behalf of Mass Mutual. If you haven’t seen it, please click on the link and check it out: thirty-second spot for Mass Mutual. In it, the parents of a Little Leaguer “cheer him on” (sort of) while he’s at bat. I don’t want to give too much away here. I’ll only tell you that the announcer comes in with just a few seconds remaining: “98% of kids won’t be getting an athletic scholarship,” he says. “Talk to us about college planning today. Feel comfortable about tomorrow.” Back to Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. Mass Mutual isn't just selling a college fund. After all, where's the high-level, emotional need in that? Instead, they’re selling the comfort, security, and peace of mind that comes with NOT having to rely on your child's athletic ability to pay for college.
In a second commercial, the partner to this college planning spot, a couple ponders the question: Which one of our children will take care of us in our old age? The answer, which they discover by observing their children at play, is a bit concerning. According to the announcer, “55% of parents expect financial assistance from their kids during retirement years. Talk to us about retirement today and feel comfortable about tomorrow.” Should you rely on your kids to take care of you as you get older? Probably not.
This is what we, as an industry, need to be doing. Don’t focus merely on what your products and services do, but what they mean, as well. This is a great example of what we talked about in that last blog. You could say that a checking account meets the need of having to pay bills from a distance. Or, that a savings account is a way to put money where you won’t be tempted to spend it. Instead, we need to talk about how these products meet those “higher” needs, such as comfort, security, and peace of mind. Mass Mutual does this beautifully, in a message that blends humor with just enough discomfort.
Again, that’s why we do what we do here at Bank Marketing Center. We apply the art and science of messaging to help you to get the absolute most out of your marketing dollars.
About Bank Marketing Center
Here at BankMarketingCenter.com, our goal is to help you with that vital, topical, and compelling communication with customers; messaging that will help you build trust, relationships, and revenue. In short, build your brand. To view our campaigns, both print and digital, visit BankMarketingCenter.com. Or, you can contact me directly by phone at 678-528-6688 or email at nreynolds@bankmarketingcenter.com. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject.