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How does your product present an oxymoron to people’s thinking?

The Marketing Rep:

Or how about this one?

Fainter:

Hoiday Inn Express calls on consumers to “get smart”.

It is catchy.

It is memorable.

And it’s a tagline that’s been used since 1998.

This is no “gimmick”. This is consistent word-of-mouth, from an audacious slogan that is being reinforced, and backed up.

The Smart Show.

The Smart Show web series, which first premiered last year, targets the business traveler with tips, ideas, facts, and other entertaining segments, and integrates Web and video content with promotional offers and brand sponsorship.

Episodes of the web series are embedded into Facebook applications and YouTube. It’s hip, digestible, and appealing to the Web 2.0 crowd.

Holiday Inn Express is actually increasing its advertising spend, even as the recession looms. They are taking advantage of their competition cutting back on spending… by filling the void. They are appealing to consumers eager for high value at a low cost.

Who doesn’t want to feel like they’ve gotten a better deal than they deserve, after paying for something?

Let’s call this the “ANTI-BUYER’S REMORSE” phenomenon.

Holiday Inn Express is serving this up. In spades.

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Free Prize Inside:

Holiday Inn Express - Nuclear Meltdown:

Holiday Inn Express - Breakfast Bar:

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Bolaji Oyejide is an online marketer and word of mouth maven. In his spare time, he explores how to generate passive income via blogging and affiliate marketing. Escape the Rat Race, and Find your Buried Cheese.

Follow me on Twitter…

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What’s your frame of reference?

People naturally compare any new thing they see to something familiar.

For example: After years of languishing on the fringes of obscurity, for example, Apple’s Mac computers have vaulted to new heights, with these comparison ads.

Seth Godin talks about this in the blog entry: “What does this remind you of?”

But don’t assume that Seth is suggesting you make incremental improvements.

While a buzzworthy product must be to understand, use, and explain…
A buzzworthy product must also be remarkable.

Now there’s a challenge.

Be different.
But have a familiar narrative.

Don’t tell me: “My product is like the [frame of reference], but with more X, better Y, and greater Z.”

(Yawn.)

Coke and Pepsi have beaten up on each other for years. With few gains made on either side.

Then Red Bull swooped into the market and created an entire new category.

Familiar doesn’t have to mean incremental.



If you’re creating something memorable, you’re not building in features that people ask for.

You’re 3 steps ahead of that phase.

You’re building in benefits that you anticipate people needing. Benefits they haven’t expressed yet.

Example: Walkman vs iPod. Bad frame of reference.
It’s why using a Walkman as a frame of reference for an iPod is inadequate.

A better frame of reference for an iPod would be… “a portable home theater for your ear drums.”
That’s because it’s not just music.
It’s virtually unlimited music.
Plus podcasts, audio books, and subscriptions to audio content you find appealing.
Oh. And plus recommendations of other audio content you may like.
The sky’s the limit.

Walkman?
Ha. Not even close.

Example: Ning.com vs Tree house. Good frame of reference.

The web site Ning.com is described as “creating your own Facebook”.

Is better than:

“Ning is a do-it-yourself social networking application builder, that allows you to create membership web sites. Ning provides rich features like personal profiles, blogs, discussion forums, video posting, what-you-see-is-what-you-get editing, and others.”

You want a frame of reference to things usually unrelated to your product category. So an even better frame of reference for Ning would be:

“Ning is like an instant virtual tree house. For your favorite people.”

So - provide a familiar frame of reference. But don’t use that as a reason to be “Like the competition, only better.” Be remarkable. But easy to relate to.



Better isn’t buzz-worthy.

Better doesn’t generate word-of-mouth.

Better is the new boring.

Instead, make your frame of reference an oxymoron.

And watch the whisper campaign about your product bloom.

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Bolaji Oyejide is an online marketer and word of mouth maven. In his spare time, he explores how to generate passive income via blogging and affiliate marketing. Escape the Rat Race, and Find your Buried Cheese.

Follow me on Twitter…
Free Prize Inside:
“I’m a Mac… and I’m a PC” frame-of-reference commercials.

Remarkable, made easy.

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So get this.

A fan of the EA Sports video game, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2008, found a glitch in the game. One that actually allowed Tiger to walk, and play a golf shot, on water!

Now here’s the kicker. 

EA Sports saw this video on YouTube, and decided to create a TV ad playing off of the glitch video (video below).

Their premise?

It wasn’t a glitch.
He’s just that good.

Other than being cool, this is important to word-of-mouth in a couple of ways:

1. EA Sports was monitoring their webutation.  They were listening to see what people were saying about them on-line.

2. EA Sports capitalized on this initial mis-step, by creating a campaign that is sure to generate even more word-of-mouth than the glitch!
The Tiger “Walk on Water” video (either the one from the game, or the TV commercial) are word-of-mouth worthy, because they’re an oxymoron. 

Basically they put two things together that ordinarily shouldn’t co-exist.

Tiger Woods is the best in the world. But walking on water?

EA Sports is a world-renowned gaming company. But making an ad from some no-name kid’s YouTube video?

Oxymorons make people stop for a second look.

Oxymorons are word-of-mouth worthy.

 

Spud Webb (5-feet 6-inches tall) winning the NBA Dunk championship? (Video)

Oxymoron.

 

 
 

An African-American / 72-year old / female for US President? (Video)

Oxymoron.

 
 

 

An 11-year old kid with growth hormone problems, who ends up being voted top 3 soccer player in the world twice?

Oxymoron.

 

 

 

 

A 21-year old Jamaican named Usain Bolt, who broke the 100 meter and 200 meter world records, after only having run professionally for less than 2 years?
LESS THAN 2 YEARS?

Oxymoron.
 

Oymorons are word-of-mouth worthy.
And we embody them everyday.

Oxymorons make people want to talk about you, and your offering.

My oxymoron: “He’s a computer scientist (0s and 1s) that loves storytelling (See Jack Run.)”
My oxymoron: “He’s in the rat race maze, but built a map to the cheese.”

So what’s your oxymoron?

• Is it speed in a traditionally slow industry?
• Is it quality in a commoditized line of business?
• Is it cost in an area where cost is typically a negative?
• Is it complete solution where people would be satisfied with fixing just part of the problem?
• Is it outperforming much larger competitors?
• Is it “conflicting” skill sets (that both contribute to your story)?

 
 

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Bolaji Oyejide is an Online Marketer and serial entrepreneur. His latest company, Rat Race Escape Artists (www.Rat-Race-Escape-Artists.com), helps you create a customized plan to get out of the Rat Race, and find your buried cheese. 

 

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