5 Important Lessons in Subtle Marketing and Video Ads

1. Subtle marketing is the way to go.

During the most recent Metro Manila Film Festival 2013, I have seen how a movie was criticized for being a successful product placement rather than a movie. Now, product placements in movies are cute sometimes. But if product placements already found their ways to the movie reviews, then that’s a different story. When it was supposed to be a subtle form of marketing, it had successfully defeated itself by getting the “marketing” noticed. What’s supposed to be a smart and tasteful advertising done within a movie turned out to be blatant and offensive. Companies won’t want that for their brands.

But I commend the makers of the new Samsung S4 ad featuring the Broadridge Education Centre in Thailand built by Trisha Silvers. She built the school in memory of her husband who died during the tsunami that devastated Thailand in 2004. When I saw the ad, I was just looking for some live Ed Sheeran videos on YouTube, but when the ad played, I did not skip the ad (one thing I normally do by the way).

I was caught by its good sounds, good cinematography, good narration and good subject. The product placement waited very very patiently until the end and it was done very very tastefully. 

I wasn’t offended at all. 

In fact, I did love it and that’s why I am writing this blog review right now, out of the blue, this one hot afternoon, without anyone, not even a sponsor, telling me to do so.

2. Even from miles away, people can already detect if you will be selling to them. There’s absolutely no need to push your ads down their throats.

The problem with some companies is that when they want to create ads, all they think about is making money. They have forgotten that the people who they want to talk to, before seeing their ads, had already been preoccupied by the thousands of ads they have heard over the radio when they woke up, seen on TV while having their breakfasts, passed by posted on billboards on the way to work and stumbled upon while playing with their favorite mobile app. Now, if you are the advertiser, what made you think that your let’s-make-more-money ad will stand out from the many ads that your target audience had already seen past yours?

The truth is, people are smarter nowadays. They can already smell, even from miles away, if someone wants to sell something to them. But being smart doesn’t mean being snob. People did not necessarily become more snobbish by becoming smarter. They will still want to listen to you, talk to you and ask you questions. But you have to be worth their very very limited time and attention. You have to be credible, creative and authentic. Remember that three.

This may be the reason why I watched the Samsung S4 ad from start to finish. The story wasn’t about the phone, with which I won’t be able to relate to, not yet, not right away. But I will be able to relate to Trisha Silvers. Her story wasn’t so different from the stories of my fellow Filipinos who survived the devastation brought about by the super typhoon Yolanda, also known as Haiyan.

Some of my important lessons in online video marketing, I learned through this Samsung S4 ad, and are hereby encapsulated by the three statements below.

• Share a story that your target audience will be able to relate to.
• Focus on that story, not on your product.
• Patiently wait for the time when you shall reveal your product. Do not overexpose.

3. Too much marketing (like in all other things) is bad marketing.

A new day has come. 

Finally, subtle marketing is taking over the other traditional ways to advertise a brand. Also, a new breed of ad-sensitive but still the same story-loving people is here to stay. Will this give birth to better advertisers too?

That will depend on how sensitive advertisers will want to be in the coming days. Will they listen solely to their annual profitability goals or will they listen to their audience? Or will they find a way to do both?

In my humble opinion, advertisers should be great storytellers, first and foremost. And great storytellers should have a deep sense of what’s enough for the story and what’s overdoing it. For video ads that involve subtle product placements, please listen to the storytellers and not the Chief Financial Officer. The former will most likely know the way.


4. If people like it, they will search for it. If they are not yet looking for it, create a demand by targeting the emotions in an almost invisible way.

Okay, I really like the Samsung S4 Trisha Silvers video ad. Hands down. But there’s a loophole in the campaign. When the ad ended, I wanted to see the ad again. However, YouTube has no replay ad button. So I Googled the ad. The result? Nada. I tried the website. And then? Disappointing. I tried Facebook. Well, it wasn’t easy but I found it eventually. But let me say that it took me ages. But I still took the hassle of looking it up because I was truly impressed by the ad that I want to write about it. But what if I am just a regular guy who still want to replay the ad but doesn’t have the time or wasn’t persistent enough?

Okay, my point is, the “way back” to the ad must not be that difficult to find. You place a really good ad for a few seconds on YouTube, you make sure people will be able to find it again easily. Samsung S4 can make use of their current website or maybe even create a separate microsite for this. I did not find the Trisha Silvers ad easily on their website that’s why I got a bit disappointed. But one thing I learned is that, in looking for something, especially when I already know what brand I am looking for, my initial instinct is to look at the website, and then Facebook. Sadly, the ad wasn’t on the website. I found it on Facebook, which loads slowly by the way, and the resolution of the video, smaller.

On its Facebook page, I found out that Trisha Silver’s story is just one of stories under the campaign entitled, “Companion Stories”. There is one story by Grandma Mary and the other by Richy Carrasco. I will check them out later.

To summarize my whole point, I just want to say that this Companion Stories campaign must be easily searchable by fans like me. Without a good and sustainable call to action or follow through, the life of a video ad (just like any other online ad) stops.

By the way, I remember posting about 2014 being the year of storytellers. When I saw this campaign by Samsung S4, I got the chills.

Post by Mark Delgado.

5. Your ads shall target the emotion. Your website and social media pages will feed the mind afterwards.

The emotions, the irrational ones, the feelings. These are the initial targets. When you got your audience curious, you lead them to your website and social media pages to feed their convictions, their rational sides, their minds. This is why product features and benefits must only be revealed detail by detail in the website, not in the video ads. It’s all about using all these online touchpoints smartly and strategically.

Again, kudos to the team behind the Companion Stories campaign. If you guys decide to send me an S4 to my doorsteps, I will never decline it. Haha! :)) Thank you for sharing the story of Trisha Silvers and for this beautiful campaign. May my inputs be of help.

Of course, you may want to check out the video that made me write all these things above. The video that started it all. So here you go guys, click play!


For more Companion Stories, please visit https://apps.facebook.com/companionstories/. Samsung will love it.

5 Admirable Things About Pru Life UK's New Campaign

1. The insurance company who listens.

When I saw Pru Life UK’s new video on YouTube as well as its brand credo, I was caught by the company’s consistency and commitment to “listening” to their customers. Hearing it straight from the agents shown in the video, it is very apparent that the company is striving not to become a run-of-the-mill insurance company. They want to become the "insurance company who listens". In the video, one of the agents said something like “We don’t just talk about insurance. We want to become a source of hope.” These words stayed with me for a little while.

Being a marketer who advocates “listening” in this day and age where nearly everyone wanted to become the best and the loudest “talker”, my admiration goes to Pru Life UK. They are very consistent and committed to their own brand credo that goes “Always Listening. Always Understanding.” In that aspect, they had become a good communicator. And good communication is very important in any business, especially for them, who need to understand perfectly the needs and wants of their customers.

Because of this campaign, I was able to understand Pru Life UK more. In my mind, they have taken the spot of the “insurance company who listens”. If they stay consistent and committed to their brand credo, they'll draw people to themselves - for a quick chat.

2. Smart move to use social media.

Being a company who listens, using social media, the “media of the people”, is a very very smart move for Pru Life UK. Social media, as I see it, is a "listening" medium, more than an advertising medium. It’s different from all other communication channels such as TV, radio and print, which are all focused on talking about brands. In social media, you can’t just do that. In social media, you must learn how to listen or understand what the people in social media want. And if you were able to produce a message that they like, prepare for stardom. If they don’t, you have successfully wasted your advertising budget.

Life is like that in social media. Why? Because it’s about the people, not your brand. But when you learn how to listen and find out what people want, you’ll be greatly rewarded. It all boils down to good listening and understanding of your consumers.

For a brand that wants to take the positioning of the “insurance company who listens”, I highly recommend to materialize this brand credo over the “media of the people”. Pru Life UK’s bold attempt to do their campaign in social media, I believe, is strategically aligned to the very DNA of their brand.

3. Short video that focuses on the emotions.

Pru Life UK is an insurance company. Imagine if they focused on explaining their products and services in their videos and websites. Clearly, the company knows that no one will be interested to hear about their products and services and how these things work, no matter how good and beneficial these things are. It will be very boring. Thus, they focused on the benefits.

In the 33-second video of Pru Life UK, they focused on dreams, aspirations and feelings. The video made me feel good and made me want to know more about the company, which is why I searched for them over the Internet, which then led me to their good-looking website.

When an ad leads a person to be curious about a company that the latter searched for the company over the Internet, the ad did its job.

Watch the new video of Pru Life UK here and see for yourself.

4. Simple campaign page filled with eye-catching memes.

The key to creating good websites is simplicity. Yes, I know. You want to say a lot of things about your company and how good it is. But remember, you must be able to make your visitors care about it first.

When I saw the new campaign page created for Pru Life UK named “Life’s Little Secrets”, I saw colors and pictures and inspiring messages. It made me want to click them. And when I did, it allowed me to share them with my friends.

Again, the “insurance company who listens”. To think, these memes and quotable quotes are not directly about Pru Life UK’s products and services. But it’s about their customers and what they stand for. Their customers are dreamers. People who want to achieve things. People who, in way or another, need the help of insurance companies like Pru Life UK.

Life’s Little Secrets website may not be directly talking about Pru Life UK’s products and services, but in my mind, it is the kind of company that wants to do more than just that. It’s a step further towards winning the hearts of the people who want to win.

To check out their new campaign page, please click here.

5. The insurance company with a heart.

Insurance agents who have built strong relationships with their clients, a brand credo that speaks of the importance of listening, and a campaign strategy that is consistent with the brand’s positioning. As a marketer, I can’t help but admire Pru Life UK. Being a dreamer and a potential client myself, I appreciated the company all the more.

Because of the five things enumerated above, I have come to understood Pru Life UK more, from both standpoints of a marketer and a potential client. A lot of companies should learn from Pru Life UK.