I Spy Marketing to Women: Miracle Gro’s New Campaign
Have you ever noticed how life lessons come when you least expect them, or when you head into something with a negative - “this will never work” - attitude? Yes, I’m talking to you.
It’s the same with marketing to women. The best examples of effectively reaching women are the ones that come from unexpected places - like sports magazines (ESPN: The Magazine) or credit card companies (American Express). It seems to be basic human behavior to engage more with something that starts out as a disconnect, and then slowly emerges as completely applicable. A negative becomes an incredibly strong positive.
Take, for example, the new Scotts Miracle-Gro ad campaign, which was profiled by Stuart Elliott of the New York Times. A few women’s market-oriented observations:
First - “Women’s market” or the word “women” is not mentioned, by Elliott or the Miracle-Gro people he interviewed. Hmmm.
Second - As Elliott put it: “The campaign is emblematic of efforts by advertisers to periodically update how they peddle their products, reflecting the continuous changes - demographic and psychographic - that are taking place among consumers.” (This should be standard, not newsworthy, practice - right?)
Third - Elliott points out that the brand’s ads had previously, and for years and years, sold the product on its attributes and benefits - a more functional message. This new message is more emotional, and represents the intangibles of gardening.
Fourth - The campaign is integrated across many forms of media. In particular, they gave some emphasis to a micro-site (built by Resource Interactive, a company that does incredible work), with the intention of building a groundswell around the activity of gardening (not so much the specific product) and becoming a go-to resource on all things garden-related for consumers.
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While I personally tend to approach gardening from a more organic perspective (need I remind you I live in Vermont?), I must admit this ad campaign was well-done, and it will reach both women and men who are young or old, and new or long-time fans of gardening. It could be a textbook case for effectively marketing to women under the radar.
All from a fairly traditional brand in a traditional industry. I spy, indeed.
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Grade: A, for concept and execution.
