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.
Extreme couponing was a common theme of last year’s recession news, with stories of cash-strapped consumers clipping their way to deep discounts. Now, the “find great deals” site Groupon is putting a tongue-in-cheek twist on that survivalist spirit with its Live Off Groupon promotion: One person will be chosen to “attempt to survive for one year with nothing but a laptop, cell phone and an unlimited supply of Groupons.” At stake is $100,000.
CNET calls it “one of the most ridiculous social-media promotions that any brand has attempted to pull off.” Admittedly, the contest isn’t a real option for the average family squeezed by the economy. But judging by the response on Groupon’s site, it has struck a chord with some very excited people, what seems to be a young, mobile crowd who have more time than money on their hands (funemployment, anyone?). Groupon’s offer, with its promise of a cross-country adventure and a big dose of humor, is appealing to them—and a clever way to get this demographic onto the site.
One of the Super Bowl’s standout commercials was from Denny’s, with its recession-friendly “panicky poultry,” as The Wall Street Journal put it. The spots featured chickens— from Mount Rushmore to the Oval Office to outer space—screaming their heads off. Why all the screaming? Denny’s was announcing its second annual free Grand Slam breakfast this Tuesday. Since it includes two eggs, a whole lot of egg-laying would be necessary.
The ads declared, “Great day to be an American. Bad day to be a chicken.” It’s nice to hear that it’s good to be an American, especially in uncertain times like these. Denny’s message touches recession-minded viewers by lightheartedly suggesting, at least you’re not a screaming chicken.
The marketer that might have been most expected to at least tacitly address the recession was CareerBuilder, but its spot avoided serious undertones, portraying an office that takes casual Fridays too far, with employees running around in underwear. The site missed an opportunity to connect with job hunters and inspire them.
In a full-page New York Times ad that ran earlier this week, the New York branch of steakhouse chain Smith & Wollensky declared that if it can’t get its hands on customers’ cash, it will take their stock options. Its tongue-in-cheek “Steak for Stock” special calls for steak lovers to swap NYSE and NASDAQ certificates for equally acronymic USDA dry-aged steaks.
While Wall Street bonuses have traditionally funded blow-out meals at such restaurants, this year many bankers are getting company shares rather than cash. The ad pokes fun at the fact that Smith & Wollensky’s core clientele is no longer knee-deep in bonus money, saying that “the effects on the local economy could be catastrophic, leaving large tracts of land in the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard undeveloped.” Actual “Steak for Stock” trades are unlikely, as the registered owner of the stock must present the original certificate. But the ad insists customers take the promotion to heart, adding that the restaurant will “even accept GM.”
It’s an over-the-top approach reminiscent of the “Expense-a-Steak” promotion from Midtown steakhouse Maloney & Porcelli, which provided a site that generated fake receipts so that corporate clients could return to the upscale dining venue. This tactic boldly connects not only with bankers coming to terms with a new financial equation but also with other anxious New Yorkers, who can use a good laugh when thinking about the crisis.
The downturn brought a wave of populist fury, stirred up by the good guys/bad guys notion of Wall Street vs. Main Street. But while that fury is now set at simmer, big business remains woefully unpopular—and so in a new commercial, Office Depot harnesses some populist zeal for itself and casts its lot with the little guy.
But Office Depot is a Wall Street-traded big box chain, right? Not so fast. A recent TV spot features Dan, a small-town barber, whose shop is threatened when a large chain moves in across the street offering $6 cuts. So Dan heads to Office Depot for a banner that reads “We fix $6 haircuts.” The banner really sticks it to “Nitro Cutz,” which papers its windows five months later, a satisfying reversal of fortune for Dan.
By casting itself as a Main Street ally, Office Depot slyly gets viewers to forget that it’s a large multinational chain whose low, low prices have put independent stores out of business. Now that’s a reversal.
During this economic downturn, a number of brands have employed a strategy of producing content that uses simple language and graphics to help consumers understand a situation they may not previously have faced. For example, I’ve written about UBank’s series of smart Webisodes on topics such as “Credit Crunch Explained” and “Recession Explained.”
By contrast, Westpac, Australia’s second largest bank, recently stumbled with an animated video that tries to explain why it has pushed up interest rates. The bank’s retail chief, Peter Hanlo, e-mailed the roughly three-minute video to hundreds of thousands of customers. The response was outrage over the video’s condescending tone and its misplaced analogy centered around banana smoothies (which have become more expensive since severe storms destroyed banana plantations in Australia). Prime Minister Kevin Rudd suggested Westpac take “a long, hard look at itself.”
One of our 10 Trends for 2010 is Visual Fluency—the acceleration of the shift from words to images, and increasingly innovative ways to explain and illuminate complex topics. There are many ways for brands to leverage this trend—and likewise many ways to get it wrong. In this case, the medium was right, while the message was all wrong.
Folks calming their recession-wracked nerves with a smooth shot of bourbon might find their bottle’s run dry, at least if they drink Knob Creek. Last month, the bourbon maker ran ads in American weekend papers, apologizing for running out of stock until November. Ad copy that read “Thanks for nothing” was paired with a near empty bottle. The line was a delightful twist on the morbid feeling shared by homeowners, stockholders and small-business owners alike these days.
If the tongue-in-cheek thank you note sounds like cold comfort to thirsty customers, think again. Knob Creek has managed to do what most other brands haven’t—pin a silver lining on a stormy cloud. Sure, the bourbon’s stores have run out, but at least someone’s doing well. According to a report inThe Guardian, the company is growing by double-digit percentages, and the American consumer is to thank.
Thank you, Knob Creek, for putting the consumer back in the driver’s seat and reminding us that it’s always driest before the dawn. Perhaps by the time Knob Creek’s Christmas batch hits shelves, we’ll be toasting our recovery instead of drowning our fiscal woes.
Singa the Lion is a Singapore mascot introduced in the early 1980s as part of a National Courtesy Campaign. These days, Singa is being used as an ambassador for responsible behavior amid the rise of H1N1. Life-size Singas wearing a mask have appeared across Singapore to encourage people with worrisome symptoms to see a doctor.
It’s a cheeky way to deliver an important message, and one that gets attention. Could there be a lesson here? Just because an issue is anxiety-provoking one, communications don’t have to be serious or heavy-handed—a light-hearted approach may be a smarter way to break through.
Etisalat, a telecommunications services provider, has used cutthroat prices and competitive promotions to maintain an edge since arriving in the Egyptian market. Its latest campaign, promoting a package that provides free intra-company minutes and SMS messages, is a direct response to the diminishing funds allocated to corporate employees. Claiming that Etisalat offers the “most affordable corporate bill,” the TV commercial is a comedic look at recession cost-cutting.
Corporate honchos are shown going to extremes such as firing half the employees, maximizing as much space as possible, giving out hand-held fans (batteries not included) to cut down on AC bills, limiting lunch breaks to just one minute and traveling by any means possible. The humor of the ad, as well as its ability to relate to the circumstances of many people, helped push the product forward. In a market where a lot of the communication is failing to recognize the effects of the recession, this ad cut through the noisy clutter and was spot-on for many corporations.
Last month, Virgin Mobile Canada launched a blog to expand on its” Screw You Recession!” campaign, which kicked off earlier this year with an outdoor and online marketing campaign to bring “positivity and hope” to young Canadians. It features a “Recession Mood Meter” (you can click on five options, from “Everything sucks huge!” to “The recession ain’t getting me down!”); a “Canadian Screw-u-lator,” which calculates how much you can save in a month or a year after specifying how you will cut daily expenses; and witty but cynical commentary, along with money-saving tips, from the winner of a Virgin Mobile summer intern search and several contest finalists.
Giving young Canadians a platform to express their recession-related frustrations is a smart move. As we found in our study The Recession and Its Impact on the Youth Market, nearly half of young adults in Canada feel that their generation is being dealt an unfair blow because of the recession. But we also found that despite the pessimism, young Canadians see opportunity in the downturn. By showing that the brand understands this demographic’s dissatisfaction and putting a humorous spin on it, Virgin Mobile Canada is helping them feel a greater sense of control over events that are beyond their control. (For the record, the Recession Mood Meter currently registers right around the mid-mark, or “Sorta freakin’ out right now.”)
In a global crisis, regional values become more important for consumers who are scared of and confused about globalization, a phenomenon that’s out of their control. Consumers’ trust can be gained via signifiers of their cultural heritage—e.g., small, likable local brands with a long tradition, like the Neapolitan wafer brand Manner; or a well-known local hero, like Sarah Wiener for OMV Austria; or a regional dialect.
One of the most famous local beer brands, Ottakringer, uses the local dialect Viennese and a local style of irony and humor with the claim “Mei bia hot ka krise” (”my beer has no crisis”) to fight consumer pessimism. And while beer sales have declined by 10 percent in Austria, Ottakringer is the only brand that is going against the trend, with growth of 0.6 percent in the past year.
Folks calming their recession-wracked nerves with a smooth shot of bourbon might find their bottle’s run dry, at least if they drink Knob Creek. Last month, the bourbon maker ran ads in American weekend papers, apologizing for running out of stock until November. Ad copy that read “Thanks for nothing” was paired with a near empty bottle. The line was a delightful twist on the morbid feeling shared by homeowners, stockholders and small-business owners alike these days.
Singa the Lion is a Singapore mascot introduced in the early 1980s as part of a National Courtesy Campaign. These days, Singa is being used as an ambassador for responsible behavior amid the rise of H1N1. Life-size Singas wearing a mask have appeared across Singapore to encourage people with worrisome symptoms to see a doctor.
In a global crisis, regional values become more important for consumers who are scared of and confused about globalization, a phenomenon that’s out of their control. Consumers’ trust can be gained via signifiers of their cultural heritage—e.g., small, likable local brands with a long tradition, like the Neapolitan wafer brand 
