Add value by appealing to the lazy – SCN Encourager 6/4/2014

This is my kind of marketing case study.

It involves a product I never had to watch a YouTube tutorial to figure out how to use.

And I always appreciated how you could rewind, fast forward, and fix jam-ups with only a #2 pencil. (no batteries or cables required)

No doubt about it.

This former marketing campaign for TDK media products serves up a perfect example for me to tell you about.

Before podcasts were even born, I was shaving in the morning while listening to one of these.

Ah, yes… those little cassette tapes.

There were four reasons why I loved them.

#1  TDK was a respected brand name, not an anyone’s-best-guess acronym.
#2  They were totally non-tech; once you actually figured out which side was ready for playing, that is. (Frequently a problem for me, I’ll admit.)
#3  They remind me of the 70’s and 80’s. (Watch it! Not talking about my age!)
#4  They are simple, simple, simple.

Anyway, history shows that TDK once rolled out the tagline Put Music in Your Life as a central element in an expensive ad campaign.

Sadly, their internal marketing surveys revealed that the campaign had very little oomph.

Bad metrics, you might say.

A change was definitely needed, but what could TDK do?

Big bucks had already been spent on design, photography, and TV commitments.

But somehow they came up with the idea to insert just one letter into its tagline – and the consumer response shot up by nearly 300%.

All it took was adding the letter “s.”

TDK – Puts Music in Your Life.

Marketing experts summed up the improved results this way.

The first tagline (Put music…) required prospective customers to do something to get the benefit.

The second tagline (Puts music…) delivered a benefit to customers without asking them to do anything.

It appears that when offered a choice – customers will often choose the “most lazy” way to go.

And why not?

Sounds good to me!

Now do you see why I’m the ideal presenter to bring you this specific case study?

Cassette tapes are all about the days gone by, minimal tech, and bare-bones effort.

My background is unsurpassed in all three areas.

And there’s another bonus for me.

For once – no one can write back to me and challenge my professional credentials to write about the featured communications topic.

If ever a “sweet spot”existed for me, a case study about cassette tapes is it!

Tom Page, SCN           You can be sweet, too. Join us on Facebook.