Humor is a great way to engage and remind consumers of your brand. A short, tightly focused and amusing message attracts positive attention. Who doesn’t remember Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” Setting yourself apart with marketing is a great way to reinforce your brand, given the hyperbole and extravagant claims that jostle for consumers’ attention.
That said, marketing done by most green industry service companies tends to be dull and predictable. Does anybody really think the “green-and-weed-free” pitch elicits anything more than scant notice these days? How about “have the lawn your neighbors envy” to excite prospects?
Kicking of the 2016 season, Lawn Doctor is stepping outside the predictable marketing mix. This past fall the national lawn care franchisor headquartered in Holmdel, New Jersey, hooked up with Boston-based agency Sleek Machine, LLC to generate a quirky and fun marketing campaign to highlight the company’s application services.
I learned about Lawn Doctor’s campaign in Adweek, a weekly advertising trade publication and website that covers media news, including print, technology, advertising, branding and television.
“Rather than focus on an overarching campaign with a unifying brand theme, the agency [Sleek Machine] opted for a series of highly targeted social videos, banners and related content, addressing specific consumer concerns in fun and often unexpected ways,” Adweek shared.
“It seemed most important to motivate an immediate reaction, as opposed to creating some lofty strategy,” Tim Cawley, Sleek Machine’s creative chief, said in the article.
Adweek reports the Lawn Doctor campaign contains more than 50 ads that will run through mid-summer. Several different creative textures are on display, each boasting satisfyingly askew humor that never goes too far. For example, to illustrate the mantra, “Don’t be embarrassed by your lawn,” several clips are set in a brownish, barren backyard and feature a typical American family—wearing paper bags over their heads.
The Lawn Doctor spots are appearing on YouTube, Facebook and Scripps sites like DIYNetwork.com and HGTV.com.
By producing so many pieces of creative, both Lawn Doctor and Sleek Machine can gauge what works best in the marketplace, Sleek Machine’s Cawley said in the Adweek article.
Watch a selection of clips from the new ad campaign at AdWeek.com.
Connect with Turf Magazine: Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter
