While the world might be taking some steps backward in terms of politics*, many marketers out there are eyeing seismic political shifts like Trump’s recent election with something approaching glee. Noses to the wind, they sniff out the commercial opportunity. Yesterday, one such brand was Ryanair, the low-cost, no frills airline.
Putting to one side the fact that the newly elected leader of the US may not be everyone’s cup of tea, Ryanair’s approach is a timely marketing tactic. Yes, it might not be the most original or the most cerebral – but it’s bold and it’s memorable. And it gets people talking.
The low-cost airline, in this approach, is treading a fairly well-worn path. Just a couple of months ago, the ‘shock split’ of Hollywood megastars Brad and Ange prompted Norwegian Air to run this advert in a number of papers.
Norwegian Air get top marks for timeliness and humour, and is a worthy winner of the flurry of interest on social, but it’s worth pointing out that with a celebrity split the stakes aren’t as high as with a presidential election; a number of Trump-related email subject lines that have been doing the rounds are pretty questionable (‘Even Hillary wouldn’t delete this email’ from Ryanair is one such example).
But the question that’s left us B2B-ers stumped is why moment marketing hasn’t yet taken off in B2B. After all, if multi-national behemoths like airline carriers can take such an agile approach – changing marketing messages and tactics according to radical political events – then why should it be such a challenge in B2B?
Having put this question out to the Twittersphere a couple of weeks ago, it seems that although lots of marketers are fans of moment marketing they couldn’t, for the life of them, find any solid B2B examples. So why is this? Perhaps it’s the nature of the B2B sale (complex, considered and high-value) – or perhaps it’s the fact that corporate brands feel nervous about taking a light-hearted approach to big issues and nailing their colours to the metaphorical mast.
But not everyone in B2B land is proceeding with caution. It may not be Trump or Brad Pitt-related, but conference call company Powwownow took a clever approach to a typically British news story (weather-related, of course) earlier this year. Back in January, rail strikes left the country in commuter chaos; news images showed throngs of thoroughly pissed off workers staring at train boards, memories of festive cheer rapidly fading.
Sensing both the mood and the marketing opportunity, Pownownow decided to remind the world that fighting the strikes was a lost cause. Its social activity resonated, and the BBC decided to interview the brand about working remotely and the benefits of conference calling and collaboration tools. The result? A spike in website traffic and increased number of sign ups – a pretty good result considering this wasn’t a strategy that had been worked on and planned in for months.
Whether you call it agile, newsjacking or moment marketing, it’s about taking a bold approach to issues affecting your customers and moving quickly in doing so. Clearly Trump-related puns aren’t to everyone’s taste and the stakes don’t have to be so high – but it’s worth considering whether elements of your overall marketing approach could be given a boost with some well-timed content or offers. Go on, encroach on the domain of B2C. We dare you.
*depending on your political leaning, of course…
