Advertising Technique: The Witty Response

Last week, we held a Brand Workshop at Google Singapore.  This is one of my favorite advertising examples from the 2 days...

Bodyform sells "lady products" (i.e., sanitary napkins).  It's not the sexiest product on the market.  Traditionally, they've advertised with ladies bike riding, ladies riding roller coasters, ladies swimming in ocean -- all during that "special" time of the month.

Well, Richard realized it was all a hoax.  It's really not all that special.  He even posted it on Bodyform's Facebook page, and 78K people "liked it."

Rather than write a generic response, Bodyform produced the video below in 8 days (which is incredibly fast in the advertising world).

It's really funny.  And, increased sales by 260% during the 3 months after the video (yes, this needs to be fact checked -- I'm using my memory) and has 5.3M YouTube views to date.

Check out the video...

Poem for a Weekend: I Carry Your Heart with Me

http://www.sparrek.org/

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

- e. e. cummings