Sometimes timing truly is everything. Cadbury’s Trident brand should benefit from timing with its new “A Little Piece of Happy” campaign. Although the campaign has been in development for 3 years (according to an article on BrandWeek), it will finally launch this month. The concept is to show consumers how Trident provides moments of happiness in life — perfect timing given the economic downturn.
The “A Little Piece of Happy” campaign includes a web site and short 15-second commercials that are intended to give consumers a moment to smile rather than being completely obtrusive. The web site doesn’t launch until June 16, 2009. I’m hoping the campaign includes a social media component through this Web site. The campaign certainly lends itself well to social media and the sharing of “happy” moments. A consumer video contest would be a great addition to the campaign (e.g., “share your happy moment with Trident and win…”). We’ll have to wait and see if anything like that is yet to come.
I expect the campaign should work well given its launch timing. Let’s face it, Trident has become a fairly boring brand over the years, but a nostalgic, personal moment ad might help revive the brand’s relevance. I’m certainly a supporter of the 15-second commercial concept.
Certainly, a marketing campaign that targets consumer emotion, security, and thoughts of a better time should be welcomed by consumers right now. That’s exactly what consumers are looking for amidst the economic crisis they’re living in. What do you think? Are you ready for ‘A Little Piece of Happy’?
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
I’ll keep an eye on this. This used to be my gum of preference and the fact that you can eat the wrapper just makes it that much better. If Wrigleys were running a similar campaign, I couldn’t help them out , since I recall vividly from childhood that my dad (who always carried a pack of Juicy Fruit) would offer me gum and then tear the stick in half, so I never got a full stick! We joke about it now and I’ve pulled this “Scrooge” number on him a few times, but it’s not commercial worthy.
Thanks for the thoughtful post. My take is a little bit different. (full post: http://bit.ly/sOIvL) The words happiness and joy have been popping up all over the place but it seems just like lipstick on a gorilla. Happy language and gimmicky web sites are a nice start, but it rings hollow when it boils down to just more talk. How does the product deliver on the promise?