Chocolate Covered Grasshoppers Generates Buzz — But Doesn't Get Me to Buy
I love seeing cool and original marketing campaigns — and one arrived at my doorstep yesterday in the form of chocolate covered grasshoppers.
Yep. They arrived in a white plastic ziplock pouch with copy that read:
You’re a risk-taker, a dream-realizer. What’s left to do that you haven’t already done? Eat a grasshopper. They’re farm raised, covered in chocolate and rich in protein. So, not only will you be breaking boundaries, but you’ll be eating healthy, too.
A tag attached to the pouch gives a clue as to why I received this culinary delight: “Entrepreneurs can change the world. Join the movement now! grasshopper.com/idea”
My son got pretty excited and went to check out the site but couldn’t figure out what the company was offering . . . after viewing the site, I think the company is offering a service where you sign on for a national telephone number that then sends your voice mail messages to your email, Blackberry, etc.
I think the service is a great idea, and I love the campaign, but I’m not sure why I was targeted. Apparently, 5,000 of us received the grasshoppers (the tag says I have grasshopper bag #1343 of 5,000).
Go check out the site and see what you think. And, let me know if you would eat chocolate-covered grasshoppers.
Update:
Did some research on this chocolate covered grasshopper campaign.
According to a Fox News video, a company in Needham, MA sent the grasshoppers to 5,000 “of the most influential people in the U.S.” in the hopes that these people would then talk about the company and its campaign (ahem).
Having spent the last few days looking at the pouch of grasshoppers sitting on my desk, I am still of two minds concerning this campaign.
On the one hand, I agree with Internet Marketing Consultant Brent Csutoras who says this is a very clever social media campaign.
On the other hand, I also agree with Dave Ibsen, author of 5 Blogs Before Lunch, who says that he’s not sure why he needs an “Advanced Number” or even what an “Advanced Number” is.
As I posted above, that is exactly what I thought when I viewed the company’s Website.
So, the company got me and lots of other people to write about its campaign — which according to the Fox News video, was the company’s objective.
But, it didn’t get me to buy — or even consider its service. Is the campaign a failure or success?
May 17th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Thanks for sharing this story and your thoughts on the campaign. It’s very relevant to a post I’ve been working on in my head for a few days.
Social media and viral campaigns are all the rage right now, but companies need to understand that they are just one tool in the marketer’s kit. You can create all the buzz you want, but if you haven’t got anything to back it up, you won’t convert prospects or build loyalty. You’ll only manage to make a very brief splash in the pond … not land any fish.
Before launching a campaign like this, a company should make sure that it has done it’s foundation marketing. For instance, make sure there is an appropriate next step for people who’ve been exposed to the campaign, make sure the Web copy clearly defines the product or services’s USP, and make sure that the rest of the customer experience rings true against the social media campaign.
Lots of lessons here. Again – thanks for sharing your excellent two cents!
May 17th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Jamie Lee,
Thanks for the feedback — let me know when your post is live.
May 17th, 2009 at 8:40 pm
According to many of the blog posts out there this seemed to have been a straight rebrand campaign (Grasshopper was formerly Gotvmail).
At a level of getting people to talk it has certainly succeeded it would seem. Like anything if you don’t need the product you won’t buy anyways.
It will be interesting to see stats if they release them when they are done with it.
Here is a good post about it – http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/05/grasshoppers-viral-re-brand.html
July 28th, 2009 at 7:24 am
[...] not to get people to sign up for the company’s Advanced Number service, which is something I originally posted about when I received my packet of [...]
December 15th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
[...] for their Chocolate Grasshopper social media campaign (see Marcom Writer posts about the campaign here and here), the team began brainstorming ways to engage people and get them to vote for [...]