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Are you puzzled by Tesco's latest billboard advertising?
What B2B brands can learn from Tesco's latest billboards
Whether you love them or loathe them the outdoor adverts certainly gained a lot of attention.
If you missed them (or don't 'get it') they feature a food item in place of the characters that make up the Tesco logo. When studied it becomes apparent each food item represents the first letter of the brand's name, just like a picture book where 'A' is for Apple. So in one version, there's a Tomato instead of a 'T', an Eclair instead of an 'E' and 'Spring onions' instead of an 'S', a Coconut for 'C' and an 'Oyster mushroom' for 'O'.
Writing in Marketing Week, Mark Ritson calls this semantic puzzle "sublime cleverness" because it exploits the 'Zeigarnik effect'. Psychological research suggests this phenomenon means "our brains are more likely to recall tasks that were left unfinished than those that were completed". If the task is completed the ‘generation effect’ kicks in, when the viewer solves the visual riddle themselves. The result is that the advert and or brand becomes more memorable.
So that's a summary of the campaign idea.
But what about the marketing brief?
Was it to...
...'get people talking about Tesco'
...'let people know Tesco sell food'
...'tell people why to buy from Tesco instead of the competitors'..?
If it was the first then it certainly got the job done. If it was the second then surely everyone knows that already. If it was the third then it plainly failed, because the campaign shows us the 'WHAT' (food) but not the 'WHY' (reason to buy).
Why should I buy food from Tesco...is the price cheaper, the shop nearer, the quality better or is it more ethical than other shops?
Maybe Tesco can afford to take risks with a leading market share of 27% and a 35 year old logo.
But what if your B2B business doesn't have their brand awareness or advertising budget?
One way to use your marketing budget more effectively is to emphasise your Value Proposition over your product or service category.
Consider what you offer that makes you more appealing to your prospects than others in your space.