04
Aug
2010
Have your smoothie and eat it too? A smart, new marketing campaign is hitting back at the ever-expanding menus of fast food chains. Apparently, Jamba Juice has had enough.
The smoothie giant recently launched a cheeky new “commercial” for the ‘Cheeseburger Chill’ smoothie. As soon as the video hit social networks–a play on the super-positive, hyper-wholesome image of McDonald’s commercials (complete with rapping employees)–people took notice.
And were a little disgusted.
Bewildered customers rushed to the site only to learn Jamba Juice was, in fact, not blending up delicious meaty-cheesy-smoothie goodness. Instead, they were challenging their fast food counterparts, saying their attempts to make high-quality smoothies was as ridiculous as Jamba blending up burgers.
This campaign accomplished what it set out to do–it got people’s attention. Jamba hooked people into the farce (“No way!”), drove them to the website to learn more (“That can’t possibly be true… can it?”), then delivered their central message (“Oooh, I get it. Funny!”). Added bonus: visitors to the site received a $1 off coupon for a smoothie of their choice (“Sweet!”).
Of course, there were also many who missed the joke by not doing their research–at least one appalled foodie blogger reported the video as truth and several Facebook commenters and re-tweeters bought into the ruse without first checking the site. Fortunately, Jamba Juice’s campaign was well-executed, clearly explained and offered an added value to loyal fans. A few misunderstandings didn’t ultimately cause the campaign to backfire.
What do you think of these April Fools-style marketing campaigns? Do they work or are they too risky for a brand if too many people don’t get the joke?
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