“Prius is expecting; the Toyota family is growing,” states the full-page ad in the Jan. 10, 2011 Wall Street Journal in time for the annual Detroit Auto Show.
The clever ad asks people to snap an image of the circular icon (to see the sonogram) with instructions inside that say “Snap me” with a mobile phone image and a numerical text address. This is a Snap Tag mobile marketing program by SpyderLynk.
So, just for kicks, I did what I was told – snapped a photo with my new Blackberry Torch (my first image); texted to these numbers (my first time texting that way), and within seconds I had a response from Toyota “Meet the new additions at https://prius-sonogram.com.”
- I am marveling at the creativity of Toyota’s interactive digital shop for this campaign.
- I’m marveling at the opportunities for integrated marketing and public relations to launch this campaign both traditionally and via online engagement marketing (my preferred vernacular for social media).
- I’m marveling about everything I don’t know and how much there is to learn.
Apparently, I’m in good company.
“Kids Lend a Digital Hand” in the same edition of the Wall Street Journal is about advertising agencies coming up dry with new interactive talent they can acquire in the market. They’re turning to kids – preteens and students to “get up to Internet speed!” Wow…I don’t feel like a numbskull any more.
The story states, “Ad and marketing agencies are under enormous pressure to reinvent themselves as technology multiplies the ways to market to consumers, from placing ads on Twitter to creating a branded application that people can find on Apple’s app store.”
Continuing with a tired and true statement, companies that went under the gauntlet to shave expenses eliminated training programs. The big agencies, ala JWT North America from the story, are now racing to fill the intellectual pipeline for its ranks. Everyone needs to get up to speed three months ago on how to do online engagement marketing, mobile applications, location-based marketing services, and so much more (forget about Twitter and Facebook; they’re old hat!).
Here are my takeaways from this post:
- No one knows it all; everyone can learn every day what’s new and next.
- Innovation and creativity drive business development.
- Never assume those you work with know how to execute.
- The pace is fast and furious; even the online courses and traditional college degree curricula cannot educate people as fast as the market continues to explode.
- Integrated marketing is the future. It’s going to take a highly integrated team to impress the big corporations – that means public relations must continue to re-invent and ignore the age-old discussions about who owns social media and how traditional media no longer brings the opportunities it once did.
It’s been a new day for about five years; carpe diem!
Jenn Whinnem says
Thanks for alerting me to this clever, clever campaign, Jayme. Wish I could see the sonogram – when I type the link into my mobile I get the “please view this from your mobile” error. Rats. I want to know if Prius is having a boy car or a girl car…
What I find most interesting about the use of these SnapTags is that the campaign starts off in print media and ends up online. How dead can print media be?
And like you, Jayme, I read something everyday that makes me think, how can I stay on top of all of this?
Jayme Soulati says
I’d like to get the numbers, too, for how many snapped and texted. Thinking of the audience who reads the WSJ; wondering whether the response was worth the money to purchase the ad? (Of course, there are so many other factors that contribute to response and audience, too.) As expected, the traditional media relations stories began to appear in today’s paper; sadly, the new Prius brand was amorphous!
How can we stay on top of this indeed, Jenn. Exciting and frightening at the same time. Thanks for sharing…now go get your Gravatar!