What’s our ultimate goal as advertisers? Grab your consumers’ attention and make a mark in the minds of your audience. Well, some went on to make history, with campaigns that have today become traditions and norms. Here’s a quick read on three brands that won the social behaviour sweepstakes with their ads.
1. How the diamond became the engagement ring of choice
The Diamond Is Forever campaign by De Beers made by the Philadelphia ad agency N.W. Ayer is considered one of the most successful advertising campaigns in the world. The goal was to tie the diamond to something with an emotional connection, in this case the tradition of marriage. The idea being the diamond will last forever just like your love. The campaign resonated with people and the rest is history.
Along with this there was a lot of focus on indirect advertising, like celebrity engagement, style guides, educational content about diamonds and how to choose and care for them. In fact, the two month’s salary for an engagement ring is also from the same campaign. Of course, De Beers also monopolized the diamond trade, being able to control the demand and supply, thereby nurturing scarcity and skyrocketing prices. But nonetheless, the campaign was able to create a market and sentiment for diamonds that still persists today.
2. How KFC became a Christmas tradition in Japan
Prior to the 1950s, Christmas was a bland holiday with less than 1% Christians in the country. Then in the 70s, the first KFC opened as part of the globalization wave that was taking place in Japan. After four years, they launched the KFC for Christmas campaign. The imagery had families enjoying the crispy fried chicken out of ‘party barrels’. The chicken also had a close resemblance to the traditional panko fried chicken that was available in Japan already. The campaign was a huge hit, and soon the stores were packed and the streets were full of people enjoying their barrels under white capped trees wooed by the celebrations of Christmas.
Even today, these ‘party barrels’ remain a hit, and one can even go so far as to call it a tradition to go and book an order and enjoy a fried crispy KFC chicken treat for Christmas in Japan.
3. How the Breakfast became the most important meal of the day
What is a full breakfast today in America, was known as the Farmer’s breakfast. They would have a heavy meal with cured meats, bread, eggs, fruits, etc. to get ready for a hard day of work. But as people migrated to cities, this kind of breakfast started to cause indigestion. This led to a spate of lighter diets leading to a drop in sales of Bacon.
Edward Bernays was tasked with curing this issue of dwindling sales. He promptly capitalized on the trust that doctors enjoyed in society. He got a doctor to agree that a heavy breakfast of bacon and eggs were better for health. Building on this, he went about collecting 5,000 signatures from doctors. Then, he sent the information to newspapers for publishing as if it were a scientific study. This was followed by a series of indirect advertising the results of which can still be seen where most people still believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
At 3 Dots Design, we’d love to create campaigns that make your brand a household name. Our team of well-experienced copywriters, graphic designers, creative artists, brand managers and digital experts ensure we continue to make a mark as one of the best ad agencies in Pune. If you wish to know more about who we are or what we do, please visit www.3dotsdesign.in or get in touch with us at contact@3dotsdesign.in