Hello – how are you all?
Well?
Time to put a stop to that then eh – and I know the best way how.
Re-start this blog.
What’s that?
“How was my holiday?”
No, didn’t think you’d ask … bastards … so for that, here is a post about SPAM.
I think Spam is amazing.
Sure they’re a load of other brands that get all the accolades, hype and media praise – but few have achieved anywhere near what Spam has.
Now I know what you’re thinking, Spam’s success is testimony to marketings ability to convince people to buy what they don’t need.
Bullshit.
The reality is there are very, very few ways to get people to do stuff they don’t want … Spam’s success is by giving a certain section of society, exactly what they need.
Spam’s origins are linked to a past time, 1937 to be exact.
It achieved it’s first real wave of success when World War 2 broke out.
With a scarcity of fresh meat, their ‘spiced ham in a can’ helped fill a much needed void and found its way into the mouths of people all around the World.
While it’s popularity has gone in waves – often linked to the economic situation at the time – it has succeeded where many better known, better distributed brands have failed … selling it’s SEVEN BILLIONTH CAN in 2007.
How?
Well while the industry likes to promote the latest fads and gimmicks, Spam have focused on getting the basics right.
1. They’ve stayed true to who they are, what they do and who they do it for.
2. They’ve innovated their flavours to coincide with changing tastes – whether that is in local markets or foreign.
3. They’ve not taken themselves too seriously …
… which given the shit they have faced with [i] Monty Python’s ‘Spamalot’ play – which they sponsored in some markets – and [ii] their name being associated with unwanted email correspondence – is as important as it is impressive.
In essence, that’s it.
There’s no digital cans or crowd-sourced ad campaigns.
There’s no multi-million dollar Superbowl spot or designer edition artwork.
It’s just good, meaningful marketing, executed simply, clearly and effectively.
For some, Spam probably represents mediocrity … the lowest of the lowest common denominator, low-rent marketing.
They’re wrong.
Not just because they don’t fail to understand who Spam relate to – which, I should add, is not necessarily people on a budget – not just because I could argue mediocrity is doing something simply because ‘everyone else is doing it’, regardless of whether it’s right or wrong … but because great marketing is when you make and take decisions that make a fundamental difference to the brands short and long term success, something I would argue, Spam have done far more effectively than many others out there, especially when you take into account the many hurdles they’ve had to face.
Spam might not be sexy or cool, but we can learn a hell of a lot more about how to be smart than most of the brands that get all the attention.