The Inheritance Game

Black Anvil Laundry, emotions and fame campaigns

Last week, we talked about emotional campaigns. To recap …

Emotion drives learning and memory. Marketing, as we’ve said before, is a memory game.

Emotion drives attention and action. When we engage our audiences, we nudge them to act.

Also, people aren’t terribly rational, and most of the decisions we make are fast, instinctive, unconscious and emotional.

If your audience feels nothing, they will remember nothing and do nothing.

Also last week, you were the Marketing Director for Black Anvil Laundry, and you were about to develop your very first regional campaign. We came up with three concepts — “Forged in Fire,” “Inheritance,” and “Life is Messy.” You took them back to your internal team.

Your sales director really liked “Life is Messy” because it’s centered around a family and all the emotional moments that clothes are a part of. He suggested that you call it “The Messi Life” and hire Inter Miami star Lionel Messi to star in a series of commercials featuring him and his family doing laundry. After a few quick calls, you realize that hiring the most famous and beloved soccer player on Earth would cost only slightly less than the GDP of Belize. And while this campaign could be quite emotional (with or without the Messi family), you feel that these particular heartstrings have been tugged before. Even if done well, this campaign might not stand out.

Your founder and CEO really liked “Forged in Fire.” Which? Makes sense. She has been deeply involved with the design, engineering and manufacturing of these high-end washers and dryers since the beginning, and she’s rightfully proud of what she’s built. She also realizes that this concept might be a little too focused on brand. Customers really only care about their own needs, wants and desires.

You like “Inheritance.” There’s something intriguingly “Succession” or “Knives Out” or even “Arrested Development” about the idea. The reading of a will is an emotionally charged moment. The stakes are high, and not everyone gets what they want. Even worse, some people do. So there’s plenty of room for drama, dark comedy and, potentially, episodic storytelling.

Also, it’s a neat little twist. No one covets a laundry machine in the way they might covet a vintage sports car or a villa in Spain. But what if we could reframe that just a little bit? Anyway …

After the big meeting, the C-suite, product people and sales team tell you they like what they see, but ultimately this is your call to make. So you make it. You choose “Inheritance.”

(Alright. Last week, we promised a half-assed media plan, and here it is: Because you’ve got a solid media budget to work with, you decide on TV (streaming), print, audio, pre-roll cinema, very select digital placements, paid search, and, of course, organic social. It’s a balanced mix of quality channels that allow you to reach a wider audience while still targeting the segments you’re after. Again, this campaign is regional for now.)

So what does the campaign look like? According to Orlando Wood, researcher, author and Chief Innovation Officer at System1, truly effective ads share a few common elements: They have a clear sense of place. They feature characters with vitality and agency. There is dialogue. There is nonverbal communication — knowing glances, smiles, winks, etc., with each other. The music has a distinct melody. Oh, and they’re entertaining. Here is an example. And another. And another. One thing these ads do not do is firehose facts at us.

Here’s our vision for “Inheritance.”

Picture an outdoor funeral. It’s pouring rain. Mourners are mourning. The widow is grieving. The adult kids are sad. Eyes are dabbed. The minister is saying something about ashes to ashes while a coffin is being lowered into the ground. Standing at a distance from the crowd is a stunning young woman in white holding a red umbrella. She has a grim, determined look on her face. Cut to …

Interior. Late afternoon. We’re in the home of someone very wealthy. The storm is even worse now. An older lawyer sits at a desk at the front of a room. Next to the desk is a Black Anvil Laundry washer and dryer. There is a portrait of the deceased on the desk. In the “audience,” we see some of the mourners we saw in the previous scene. The lawyer is reading from the final will and testament. She says, “To my wife of 47 years, I leave the estate in France, the vineyards in Tuscany and our beloved English Bulldog, Frank.”

The widow looks somewhat peeved, but we don’t know why. Frank the dog gives a little bark.

“To my daughter Emilia, her husband Brian and her children Philipa and Bennett, I leave the sum of $743.8 million, the lake house in Vermont and the 1961 Rolls-Royce Phantom V.”

Emilia and Brian hold hands while a man who is not Brian smiles at Emilia, and she returns a flirty glance. A woman who is not Emilia glares at Brian, and he returns a weak, half-hearted smile.

The lawyer turns the page and continues. “Now to the matter of my two most prized possessions,” she says. Everyone leans forward, and the room goes quiet. Frank the dog sits.

The lawyer says, “I, Derek Andrew Lincoln Prescott the IV, being of sound mind and body, bequeath my Black Anvil Laundry washing machine and dryer to … “ Just then, the woman in white bursts through the door. As everyone turns to look, she strides confidently down the aisle. Her high heels echo with every footfall.

The lawyer, transfixed by the woman in white, says, “ … to my muse, my heart, my secret shame …” the lawyer pauses, flustered … “Miss Ilsa Flemming.”

A gasp from the crowd. Someone shouts, “This is an outrage!” Emilia stares daggers at her while Brian looks shocked and then mortified.

She walks up to the Black Anvil Laundry machines and places a lily on the dryer. We see a single tear run down her face, which she refuses to wipe away. Then she walks back. As she passes, Emilia grabs her arm and says, “Those were mine.” The woman in white leans down, whispers something in Emilia’s ear and hands her a photo. Emilia glances at the photo. Stunned, she looks away. The woman in white walks off. She winks at Brian.

A narrator says, “Some people will do anything to own Black Anvil Laundry.”

The spot ends with the logo.

(Too long? Yep. It’s a three-minute, pre-roll cinema spot that will also run on your YouTube channel, which will be cut down to a :60 and a :30. And possibly a :15. And some of these scenes could be cut for time and/or budget.)

What this spot does not do, at least not explicitly, is call out the features and benefits of Black Anvil Laundry washers and dryers. The words “heirloom quality,” “stunning” and “generations” from our single-minded proposition are never spoken. We do not see the engineering, the design, the craft that goes into making these machines. We do not see anyone doing laundry. The last line doesn’t even make sense … yet.

(Because what is Ilsa’s relationship to the deceased? His mistress? Daughter? His architect? Chiropractor? His father’s, brother’s, nephew’s, cousin’s former roommate? We simply don’t know. And what’s up with her and Brian?)

Instead, we’re building a world of wealth and intrigue where Black Anvil Laundry machines are highly coveted objects on par with a vintage Rolls-Royce or a vineyard in Tuscany. Does it make sense? No, and neither does a talking gecko who sells insurance. Also, you can’t actually taste a rainbow.

So what does that mean for you?

A few things:

It is okay to be weird. By definition, weird stands out. Weird gets noticed and remembered. Weird is wonderful … as long as it’s pointed in the right direction.
Dull is needlessly expensive. You have to spend roughly 2-3x more on media to have the same impact as a not-dull campaign.
It’s okay to have fun. Can you imagine having your shit so supremely together as a brand that you’re able to have fun?
Emotion matters. If your audience feels something, they’re more likely to remember you and more likely to take action.
Campaigns do not wear out over time. If anything, they wear in as people get used to them and grow to like them more and more. With all its possible twists and turns, the “Inheritance” campaign could run for decades.

Advertising works. Emotional advertising is more likely to work better. And an emotionally-driven fame campaign like “Inheritance” is more likely to work even betterer than that. Especially if you’re a sleeping giant — a smaller brand with incredible potential, or a larger brand that’s been sort of stuck in the middle for a while.

We can help you wake up, if waking up is a thing you want to do. We’ll see you next time.

Sources!

Look Out. – Orlando Wood
“The Influences of Emotion on Learning and Memory” – Chai Tyng, Hafeez, Amin, Mohamad Saad, Aamir Malik
“Emotion and the Motivational Brain” – Peter Lang, Margaret Bradley