Tags
#thisiswholesome, Advertising, digital media, family, Honey Maid, social media, This is Wholesome
I recently had a phone interview for a job and was asked about my social media background. It’s a question that causes me to get emotionally passionate fast! I usually have to add a “Wendy filter” as to not scare people. (A “Wendy filter” helps bring the level of Wendy-ism you are receiving down to a more “normal person” style of discussion and interaction.) Having spent over a year of my working career trying to explain the importance of accepting and utilizing the “new” media (aka hitting my head against the wall) I’m always so excited when someone does it right. Welcome Honey Maid as the newest example.
If you spend any amount of time online in any social site you already know that Honey Maid ran a commercial that was all-inclusive to multiple types of families. The tag line “This is Wholesome”included families enjoying their tasty graham cracker treats. Of course there was the “gasp” two dad family, the “gasp again” biracial family, the “no real need to gasp” military family, and the “not worth a gasp” tattooed rocker family. All happily chomping on some honey kissed goodness! Missed it? Don’t worry. Like any company with a good digital media plan they have their own YouTube channel for you to check it out on!
I can only assume that when putting this ad out there they realized they would get comments flooding in from the masses. If they were smart, and I think they are, they had their “reaction” all ready to go. After all one of the keys of responding to social media outbursts is to do it fast and keep that snowball building and moving. Not shocking the ad did a good job of pissing off individuals and groups that get pissed off by this sort of thing (you know who they are, the folks that say we are riding an express train to hell by undoing the fabric of the American family). When those people get pissed their arch nemesis (like me) get all riled up and start posting support for the brand that was so brave and bold. All of a sudden their little 30 second ad has given them enormous amounts of attention.
Instead of just letting their Social Media engagement coast to a stop Honey Maid whipped out their response and took it to the next level. Using the actual social media responses they crafted a response ad that literally held a message of love. As we have seen in the past a well-played response to social media can actually gain MORE attention for a brand then the original. This is exactly what happened for Honey Maid. If you search “Honey Made love” in Google right this second you get “about 98,700,000 results (0.40 seconds).” This includes national news coverage, individual blogs (like this one), and news outlets outside of the US. A MUCH bigger audience reach than a traditional 30 second spot would have achieved.
Above and beyond the brilliant use of social media the message itself is extremely important. Even though it isn’t the “right” way to deal with things I’m pretty good at attacking “hate” with more hate. You tell me a definition of “family” can only be a man and woman (of the same race) with 1 or more children I will tell you to take your stupid mouth and the body it’s attached to and take a hike. Luckily I don’t run Honey Maid’s digital marketing division as this message isn’t quite as honey golden sweet as “Love” and “This is Wholesome.”
To support Honey Maid’s lovely message (after all I’m quick to boycott those with the opposite message it seems only fair) and brilliant use of the “new” media I purchased a box of those delicious graham crackers. Then I took a picture of my family and posted it to their Facebook page (my Twitter, Instagram & Studio accounts). I suggest you do the same. Let’s support a brand that is this smart!
