Turning a Marketing Fail Into a Win
Last week Iceland were hit with a festive marketing set back that would throw shivers down the spine of every CMO in the country. After shelling out half a million pounds on a glossy Christmas ad Clearcast ruled that they would not be allowed to show it on television because it breached political rules in the official code of practice, and just like that, the rug had been pulled from under their feet.
The context behind the ruling was thus. Iceland had used an animated film produced alongside Greenpeace to create a campaign about the use of palm oil in common supermarket products, which is responsible for vast swathes of deforestation across the world. The high street chain had announced earlier this year that it would become the first supermarket to remove palm oil from all its own brand products, and with a sprinkle of Christmas good will, they had hoped to build some positive brand sentiment ahead of one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.
But regardless of how well-intentioned their motives appeared to be, they hadn’t foreseen that the political message behind their ad might put the stoppers on it going out altogether. With a significant sum of money already on the line they were left hoping for a Miracle on 34th Street to save their bacon before the big day, and it was delivered, courtesy of a marketing channel powered by the people; social media.
As soon as Clearcast made their announcement, Iceland went on the attack by launching the taboo commercial on their social channels. “This is the advert they don’t want you to see”, was the undertone, and just like that people across the world had been galvanised by a campaign that had shunned the norm in every sense of the word in a bid to be brave and bold in support of a worthy cause.
Within days it had become a viral sensation. Three million people headed to YouTube to watch the ad, while 12 million people watched the video on their Facebook channel and Twitter posts garnered hundreds of thousands of retweets and likes. The Guardian’s Media Editor Jim Waterson congratulated the supermarket on producing the “most successful banned advert in years”, as celebrities such as James Cordon, Ricky Gervais and Bill Bailey all threw their weight behind getting the message out.
After spending £500,000 to make the (initially) doomed advert, yesterday a petition launched on Change.org to get the ad reinstated reached 500,000 signatures, and it has arguably performed better thanks to the initial snub than it would have done without it. Of course there will be claims that they knew it would turn out that way all along, but even so, it goes to show that being bold in today’s market and backing ideas you are confident in is a sure fire way to win people over, regardless of what the authorities think.