Magnetic Moments: A Love Story

Years ago, I worked as a strategist in the world of CRM. I would spend my days developing communications plans—each with a thoughtful stream of contacts that (I was sure) would win over consumers. Then, each day would end with a perversely comedic ritual—standing over my trash can and joyfully tearing up every piece of direct mail I received without pausing to read a single line. The joke was on me—once I had become the hunted and not the hunter, I somehow had lost my appreciation for these thoughtful pieces of marketing I spent my days bringing to life.

If you’re reading this, it’s probably because you’re one of us marketing types—the blind optimists who spend our days thinking about where to find consumers, how to capture their interest and, ultimately, win them over. But, the reality we never fully accept is this: the consumer (who is actually a real person with a whole life of his or her own that doesn’t involve us) is not sitting at home all day, forlorn for lack of attention from brands, waiting to be found. It’s a sad love story gone wrong.

So what’s my point? Well, as a fellow blind optimist, I think there is still hope. I think creative media thinking can win the proverbial girl’s heart, ride off into the sunset and have brands and consumers living happily ever after. We all know that it’s harder to push someone into your camp than it is to give him a little pull when he’s already leaning your way. Well, for any category there are particular moments—beyond the obvious ones—when consumers are leaning your way and are just waiting for that little invitation to come in. I like to think of these as “magnetic moments.” Yes, we all know that the days of interruption marketing are over and right now it’s about right time, right place (blah, blah, blah), but, in my interpretation, magnetic moments are more than that. They are a mood, a context, a state of mind (and, yes, a time and a place, too) where your category has become more emotionally charged for consumers. Either consciously or subconsciously, by choice or by circumstance, their energy (and attention) has temporarily been directed your way.

Think about your own experience with the personal finance category, for example. Of the 24 hours in your day and the 168 in your week, you’re probably spending almost none of them thinking about your credit card or checking account. All the while, financial services marketers are making plaintive overtures about how their products can fulfill some bigger promise to you as a “money management tool.” But, then comes the time you take out of each week or month to go through your bill-paying routine. Or perhaps it’s the moment just after or when the mortgage bill comes due. Whatever it is and whenever it is, these are the points where all of a sudden you’re transported into your money frame of mind—you’re feeling the pain of your financial ways and resolving to improve them. At that one point, you might finally allow yourself to listen to how one of these “money management tools” could play a bigger role in your repertoire. That’s a “money moment” for you–a.k.a. a magnetic moment any financial services marketer crafty enough to catch you in that frame of mind.

In the age of interactive, conversational media and utilities, I think there is an opportunity for a brand to help, inform, edify and uplift through its media experiences in “money moments” like these. When the possibilities of media (and what can be turned into media) are boundless, the only limit on our ability to engage consumers is the bounds of our imagination. If we can find these magnetic moments, surely we can find a way to put media there. There’s proof that a lot of brands are thinking this way and are doing better for it. A few examples I’ve really come to like are these:

• Zappos: Yes, shoes can be a highly involved category, so maybe their job is easier, but that doesn’t stop them from thinking really hard about the shoe moments in peoples’ lives. Whether you are a shoe lover or would just as soon go barefoot all day, there is one moment for all of us that is now forever associated with shoes. Yes, the airport security line. A subconscious shoe moment, but Zappos is there with ads in the security bins. Pretty brilliant, I think.
• Charmin: Doesn’t get more low involvement than toilet paper, right? If you didn’t think very hard, it would be easy to conclude there are no magnetic moments here. Well, think again. Maybe there is one…the dreaded, grimy public restroom – an experience that really helps you reflect on the importance of nice fluffy, soft toilet paper. Charmin is there. They’ve sponsored the iPhone app that helps people find survivable public restrooms wherever they might be.
• Max New York Life Insurance: Halfway across the world, an insurance company in India is showing us how to stretch the concept of magnetic moments even further. Insurance is often thought to be a “necessary evil”; but in truth, one could consider it welcome protection against the fragility of life. That said, we rarely think of it this way. So Max New York Life found a creative way to get that very point across. They found Indian consumers when they were tending to other fragile their lives– their eggs. They advertized on egg cartons. A pretty elegant way to remind people of the fragility of life. Nice work.

All of these are pretty simple one-off tactics. But what they say to consumers is pretty powerful. What they say is: “I’ve thought about you. I get you. I understand you more than any of those other brands. And I know you don’t think of me often, but when you do. I’m there.”  If you think hard enough, there are probably magnetic moments you’ve never considered that give you an opportunity to show consumers you’re armed with a little more insight and media creativity than the average brand. Simple tactics, but they are clearly the product of some insightful thinking from people that started by stepping back from solving the marketing problem and first walked a mile in their consumer’s shoes to find those precious few moments when consumers’ energy—for better or worse—is tuned into their category.

At UM, we remind ourselves to truly get to know our consumer before we put our media/marketing goggles on this. We do this through research, talking to consumers and listening to the story that the data tells. With this insight in hand, we use creative media planning tools such as consumer archetypes and consumer journeys to truly understand our consumer and our category within their broader context of consumers real life. Simple, tried and true tools…but what they do is help us be a consumer first, recognize that we only have a small fraction of their attention and find those magnetic moments where we can form a more charged connection. Our hypothesis is that the more your media experiences are around those magnetic moments, the more curiosity and interest your brand will provoke, and the more surprising your results will be.

-By Will Wiseman, SVP, Global Strategy Director