Let's talk about Super Bowl commercials! It's a bit hard not to when the big game was just yesterday. The Heinz commercial above was one of my favorites and at this point you can bet that I've watched it at least 10 times. Spoiler alert! It includes adorable dogs, a cute child, and a whole lot of humor.
In less than a minute allotted to Super Bowl commercials the advertising companies hit us hard with all sorts of tactics to associate positive feelings with the product or make the product more memorable so that the next time you're standing in the grocery store aisle and wondering which ketchup is best, you reach for the Heinz. Pretty incredible what they can do; these advertising companies have put us on the peripheral route of the Elaboration Likelihood Model.
By plying us with tiny dogs with floppy ears we begin to associate the positive feelings the dogs create with the Heinz ketchup company. Not only that, the people in this ad are attractive even when they're dressed as ketchup bottles. Finally, there are 7 types of ketchup represented here fitting nicely within the 5 plus or minus 2 channel capacity rule and making it a really great number of ketchup types to present (at first I thought that those might be all the ketchup types they make, but their website sells quite a few more). As far as I know there are not a whole lot of strong arguments for one ketchup over the other, so the central route processing wasn't really an option, but I think they did a great job using the peripheral route. To be honest, it worked on me.
That was hilarious. lol The video is certainly appealing and will stick in my mind but I'll still have to check the ingredients list and nutritional information on a bottle of their organic ketchup before deciding to buy it. The peripheral route of the ELM model is not as durable, right? So while Heinz may stay in my head the next time I shop, because I'll think about the hot dog dogs, after that I could see a commercial for Annie's ketchup that stays more prevalent in my mind for a subsequent shopping trip and purchase that brand the next time. Now if that Heinz commercial had ended with a message that all Heinz ketchup purchases would result in a donation to say, the American Humane Society, then that would be more of central route processing of the ELM model, right? Then I would have some lasting brand loyalty towards Heinz because I want to continue contributing to the welfare of those cute hot dog dogs. :D
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful application of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. There is nothing quite like Weiner dogs dressed up as hotdogs.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Angey’s comment, the peripheral route of the ELM is not as durable as the central route. The two main advantages of the central route are the durability of the attitude change as well as the increased predictability and reliability of the behavioral change. Unfortunately, in order to use the central route, the receiver of the message has to have a high degree of interest in the topic. Let’s face it, is buying Heinz vs Meijer brand ketchup a high priority to most of us? Probably not, which is why the peripheral route was used within this commercial.
Again, Angey brought up an excellent example of how to adapt this commercial in order to utilize the central route and create more durable behavior change. It is probably more likely that the recipient of the message is more concerned with the humane treatment of animals than with which ketchup they should buy.
Although, I really like Angey’s suggestion on how to make this message more durable, using the peripheral route for a super bowl commercial is probably more appropriate. The primary viewers are probably more interested in having a good time and the game at that specific moment than the welfare of animals. Because the peripheral route relies on the general concept of how the message makes someone feel, keeping the commercial positive and humorous is essential in this context.
I remember when this commercial came on, it brought up a lot of associations for me. First, wiener dogs, funny on their own, right? But then I thought of a farm I lived at where there was wiener dog named Minuit; and that when I lived in St. Louis, around Mardi Gras they have a wiener dog derby; and I have a friend who’s profile picture is a wiener dog in a hot dog costume; and watching the commercial we started talking about how dachshunds were bred to hunt badgers originally...All this to say that somehow the wiener dog association had a high personal relevance for me, and the ketchup, Heinz, in all of its iconic glory, kind of has a high personal relevance for me also. So, in this case, the messaging could activate either the central or peripheral route based on the personal context for the viewer. I think that the strong brand identity of Heinz has more of a lasting image in my mind than any other ketchup brand, though that is undoubtedly the result of repeated exposure to advertising over many years and not this single commercial. Though this message did stick in my mind.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the peek inside your brain as you recounted your original viewing of this commercial. :) I'm wondering about the high personal relevance that Heinz ketchup has for you. Would you say it's highly relevant to you because it's such a familiar icon, or is there something else in your history that makes it particularly salient (e.g. your grandma always served Heinz ketchup)? If it's the former, I think your familiarity with the brand could act almost like that "star power" that messages targeted towards the peripheral route rely on. I'm not sure if familiarity = personal relevance in this case. But I definitely agree that the utter adorableness of weenie dogs dressed up as hotdogs, certainly caught my attention and planted a little seed to buy some Heinz ketchup.
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