JWT’s AnxietyIndex is designed as a place to discuss how brands and consumers are responding to the global recession. With daily content updates, AnxietyIndex.com includes contributions from around JWT’s network, offering a truly global perspective.
After completing a major renovation that includes new food and retail facilities, Sydney Airport is appealing to Australians to get to the international terminal early to shop and eat. But rather than simply spotlight the offerings, the airport puts anxiety at the center of a campaign that positions the terminal as an antidote to the tongue-in-cheek ailment PFT (Pre-Flight Tension). Explains a YouTube page: “If you’ve ever flown overseas, you may have noticed a change in your normal behaviour. You might have seemed a little more anxious. You might have experienced sudden mood swings. You might have even found yourself sweating and, in some cases, swearing profusely.”
One spot shows a hilariously near-hysterical wife and her husband as they prepare to leave the house, almost forget their tickets and arrive at “final call” for their flight. Spouses of both genders should readily identify. Another spot shows a sufferer of “obsessive passport disorder” at the airport who frantically searches for his passport, finds it, then forgets where he’s put it, setting off more frantic searching—a little too much anxiety and not enough humor here. The ads direct people to easepft.com.au.
Any traveler will surely engage with the premise, but the campaign risks hitting a bit close to home for the more seriously anxious, and travelers don’t find out what’s actually in the new terminal until a second phase of the campaign launches.
In writing about the “Cathy” comic strip coming to an end, The New York Times includes a typical panel, showing the perennially anxious Cathy holding her “trophy swimsuit,” an item far smaller than her actual frame. Body-consciousness and anxiety tend to go hand in hand, and two recent ad efforts triggered accusations of helping to feed that anxiety. Ann Taylor’s Loft brand was criticized for Photoshopping models’ waistlines beyond recognition. Then some in the blogosphere cried foul over outdoor ads in New York that featured a stack of Snack Factory’s Pretzel Crisps and the headline “You can never be too thin.” Several critics took on the ads themselves with guerilla-style postings.
Are people simply overreacting? Loft shouldn’t get a pass for shrinking its models. But I’m inclined to cut the Snack Factory some slack—after all, they’re advertising pretzels, not diet pills or a weight-loss shake. But others may feel different, and in an age of hyper-sensitivity, marketers must think of every which way their advertising (even the most seemingly innocuous) might be interpreted.
I’m not saying ads should be vanilla; provocation can be great. But marketers must be prepared to face the consequences, especially given how easily they can be magnified by the megaphone of social media. As we advised in our Social Media Checklist, assume your brand will be embarrassed at some point and have a plan to deal with worst-case scenarios. The Loft later scored some points by showcasing five staffers of various heights and sizes wearing its new pants. And Snack Factory replaced the headline with “Tastes as good as skinny feels.” What do you think? Were these adequate responses?
While it’s clear that not enough Americans are anxious about their health and motivated to improve it, they are likely concerned about the health of loved ones. For its 2010 Effie Award-winning campaign, the regional health insurance company Anthem created a “Health Footprint”—a score similar to a carbon footprint—designed to measure “your positive influence on others.” The message was that people’s actions have an effect on their social network; the bigger your Health Footprint, the greater your positive influence on others.
Believe it or not, studies suggest many of us can blame friends, family and co-workers for extra inches around the waistline. A 2007 study found that a person’s chances of becoming obese skyrocket if a friend becomes obese; conversely, “thinness is contagious.” Anthem’s TV commercials illustrate the concept—for example, a boy is seen imitating his dad’s good habits—and invite viewers to calculate their health footprint online and share their score with their virtual social networks. The microsite includes health and fitness tips.
The idea seemed to hit a nerve. Anthem’s microsite got 79,000-plus visits, more than double the goal. And 75 percent of those who started calculating their health footprint completed the process. By tapping into a social phenomenon, Anthem was able to engage consumers by helping them see how they can make a difference in the lives of loved ones, a message both empowering and inspiring.
It’s not news that the crisis isn’t just economic—it has affected people’s mental well-being and has created a sense of deep hopelessness for some. So Walgreens in Puerto Rico decided to remind people what truly makes them happy—family, pets, favorite pastimes, nature and so on—in a campaign that turned its photo development department into a prescription department.
Asking “¿Cual es tu receta para sentirte bien?” (“What’s your prescription for feeling good?”), Walgreens encouraged Puerto Ricans to submit photo compilations showing their personal prescription for happiness over a two-month period. Submissions were shown on TV commercials, digital billboards throughout the island and a micro-site. Puerto Rico’s primary retail pharmacy created an atmosphere of positivity by shifting our focus to the many blessings we have, teaching us that the best prescription is closer than we think. This kind of hope-fueled approach—epitomized by the Red Cross Portugal “Hope” campaign—is a smart way to help consumers fend off anxiety.
As mentioned in a previous post about co-branded kits of canned coffee and packages of smokes, cigarette brands facing declining sales and a shrinking market are looking for ways to steal share and reinforce loyalty wherever possible. The latest effort by Philip Morris leverages the ever-present concern of the smoker—smoker’s breath—by offering a box of cigarettes bundled with a pack of new Clorets gum in a two-in-one package.
This is a good example of turning an issue of consumer anxiety arising from one brand into a co-selling opportunity with a second brand that solves the problem, resulting in a win-win for both. Philip Morris gains a chance to convert new users, while Clorets gets its new product into the hands of a potentially core target. This is also an example of creatively re-imagining how your products are sold, one of our recommendations for brands in our Recession Handbook.
While there are plenty of sites for women to share health concerns and opinions, it’s rare to find one for men. Now Banyu, a Japanese pharmaceutical company best known for its AGA division of hair-loss treatment products and services, has launched a portal site called “AGA 30s Opinion” to collect questions and let men vote on male-specific dilemmas and anxieties on topics ranging from health to love, money, work and more.
In Japan the topic of hair loss is a particularly uncomfortable subject (until recently, a Japanese word for “bald” was prohibited from use on TV). With many of AGA’s products needing prescription, a key for the brand is to get men in their 30s—when the first signs of hair loss generally appear—who may still be in denial or reluctant to talk about the issue to consult with their doctor.
By leveraging broader anxieties and providing an interactive and anonymous tool to give men a glimpse into the concerns of their peers, the site is a clever way to decrease the sensitivity and stigma around the problems that AGA proposes to solve, showing men they are not alone in their anxieties.
Worried about your children using drugs? Wondering if they get along with other kids at school? How are their grades? A Stouffer’s campaign from our JWT New York office tells parents the answer to all these questions can be found right at the dinner table.
The frozen-foods brand has crafted its “Let’s fix dinner” campaign around the insight that dinner as a family has a positive impact. TV spots feature different types of families gathering around the dinner table and direct viewers to letsfixdinner.com. The site challenges real families to eat together more often, listing stats about the benefits (teens who have family meals are 66 percent less likely to try drugs, etc.), even noting that teens will be more likely to talk about their problems.
Tapping into consumer anxiety about their children’s well-being, Stouffer’s smartly presents a strategy for parents, positioning itself as part of this solution.
While several brands leverage consumer anxiety regarding obesity, diabetes, heart health and physical fitness, Times of India (TOI), the country’s leading English daily, is tackling mental and spiritual health. Engaging the urban, educated Indian, it taps into the two things that constantly nag us: the purpose of our existence and why life turns out the way it does.
“The Speaking Tree” is a Sunday supplement that carries light but thought-provoking articles on meditation, spirituality and, most important, advice on solving everyday life issues through inspiration from mythology and stories of real people we can identify with. As a brand, TOI has made a start in plugging a yawning gap that resides among all of us. It’s also created an opportunity for several brands to participate in this space, especially brands that talk to the individual seeking peace, deeper knowledge, inspiration or transformation (insurance, religious TV channels, books, institutions that impart new skills).
Home delivery has been common in Mexico for years—in suburbs and residential districts, one sees companies delivering water, soda, dry-cleaned clothes or bread to people’s doors. This includes having beer delivered, a service that was previously mainly available in the north. More recently, Cervexpress (a contraction of “beer express”), run by the major Mexican brewer Cerveceria Cuauhtemoc Moctezuma, expanded to more cities. With a quick call, people could be ready to host a party or gathering. Which is just what people were wanting to do—with the specter of H1N1, many Mexicans were too anxious to go out to restaurants or bars, for fear of getting sick, and were staying home to socialize.
While Mexicans are no longer anxious about H1N1, concerns about high crime, along with a recent ban on smoking in public spaces, has meant people are still partying at home. Cervexpress is an interesting example of how companies can take advantage of the new habits that grow out of rising anxiety.
A series of anxiety-provoking commercials—featuring ominous music and overwrought narrators—are sensationalizing and skewing the facts about the U.S. health care debate as the congressional battle over the issue draws to a conclusion. Groups on both sides are spending millions to target the remaining undecided Democratic votes, many using scare tactics in a bid to drive constituents’ anxieties through the roof and all the way to Washington.
Health care reform activists have been sticking to the message that it’s Americans against the insurance giants. In a recent ad from Health Care for America Now! that’s been running in Washington, the narrator says, “If they win, we lose.” And a number of pharmaceutical companies have invested $12 million to fund campaigns supporting this week’s last-ditch effort to pass the legislation.
On the other side, various business groups led by the Chamber of Commerce are reportedly spending $10 million on ads that warn of the bill’s high price tag—telling Americans they will see “billions in new taxes” and “more mandates on businesses.” And the Republican Governors Association’sWhat Happens in D.C. campaign is behind spots such as one condemning Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe (below) for being “quiet” on the health care bill, with cricket sounds emphasizing the point; these campaigns stir anxieties in districts that count the most come voting time.
Both sides are rousing anxieties in hopes more people will come around to their point of view—and at the same time helping to create a frequently misinformed debate.
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While several brands leverage consumer anxiety regarding obesity, diabetes, heart health and physical fitness, Times of India (TOI), the country’s leading English daily, is tackling mental and spiritual health. Engaging the urban, educated Indian, it taps into the two things that constantly nag us: the purpose of our existence and why life turns out the way it does.
