The Ice Cream Truck, Brilliant Marketing, Brain-Washing or MAGIC!?
Written by Adam Cupples (@ACupples)
Had an observation over the weekend…….
Very simple concept: A truck (that always needs a muffler, or it’s a creepy van, really an ice cream van?) PLUS ice cream (and not even good ice cream) PLUS a theme song = Emotional Connection
The driver doesn’t (to my knowledge) have a marketing plan, a website, Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn accounts – though I have received business cards, seriously – but more often than not, it’s just a person driving around and playing an annoying tune.
I bring this up because for two reasons:
1. Music — how do songs get us to recognize brands? Chili’s (I want my baby back baby back…) Six Flags (dancing song), okay 1-800-54-GIANT has their name in the song, but still… and who hasn’t hit the falsetto and belted out, “I’m lovin’ it!”, just me?… or a little Snap, Crackle, Pop?
Anyway, my point is coming! Picture this: typical Saturday evening: house is calm, we have some Dora in one room, iCarly in the other and I’m (finally) sitting and reading (well, espn.com on the laptop) and my 2 year old, yes 2 year old sits up and says “Dora”. Now I know what you’re thinking, and it’s what I thought too, she’s watching Dora and that’s why she said it. Nooooooooo. It’s because she heard the ice cream truck music (which I haven’t heard yet) and you know what she gets at the Ice Cream truck? Bingo…a Dora ice cream.
This leads me to my next point: the emotional connection.
2. When you see your kids, nieces, nephews, etc…. all jumping up and down, so excited because they hear that delicious song, how can you say no when the truck finally takes your corner? You can’t. So what happens? You shell out $20 for sub-par, overpriced ice cream (but you still get one for yourself!). It’s like MAGIC!
So the point of the story (I think) is that sometimes using the darker color blue on your website isn’t as important as you think. It’s about keeping things simple and finding the right message (or music) to create the emotional connection. Or it’s magic, who knows!?
