We all know about marketing and how successful a strategic marketing plan can be. Reactive marketing can have a huge impact too, especially when done well. Reactive marketing is where you respond to any relatively unexpected or sudden happenings in the world. This can include news, other advertising and marketing campaigns, social media trends and much more.
Brands reacting to the big story of the day
It may seem like it’s been coming for a while, but Boris Johnson has finally resigned as Prime Minister. We will keep our thoughts to ourselves on that… However, we have already seen some great examples of reactive marketing.
First up comes from Iceland, with a simple but witty tweet. Showing a concerned photo of Boris’ face with the text “Having trouble keeping your cabinet full? Shop everyday essentials from Iceland.co.uk”. They have managed to make it funny and relatable to what they do – a true win, win!
This is followed by a company often considered as one of the masters of reactive marketing, Brewdog Brewery. They have released four images of new beers. The labels are: ‘Bojo Bogo’, ‘Resignation Nation’, ‘Bye Bye Big Dog’ and ‘Boris Lie-PA’. These are all examples of recent news stories, plays on words and styles of beer and are very well executed. Their most recent tweet ties in the style of beer and the name, opening with: “Boris is resigning. Fingers crossed he’s not lying this time”. This is listed as a Lie-PA which is a hazy IPA, “because we couldn’t make it transparent” – well done Brewdog. It also helps that most people love seeing beer, the colours they use are bright and the names are usually very shareable.
Brewdog have released previous beers such as ‘Barnard Castle Eye Test’ relating to Dominic Cummings’ long drive to receive an eye test during the Covid lockdown. They also responded to Aldi who had a beer that looked almost identical to their flagship beer. They released a beer called ‘Yaldi’ with almost identical branding to Aldi. This was received incredibly well, creating some great banter on social media and now, amazingly, they stock it in their stores!
One of our favourite reactive marketing examples…
One of the best reactive marketing responses has to be from Heinz Baked beans from the start of 2021. This was during a time when there were still post-pandemic restrictions in place and limited things to do, so social media usage was at a high already. Weetabix and Heinz teamed up for a tongue-in-cheek social media campaign showing baked beans as a topping for the cereal, and the tweet went viral! Other businesses couldn’t wait to get involved in the action, with Tinder commenting “Trust us, this is not a Match”, and Nando’s chimed in with “You ok hun? DM’s are open if you need to talk”. We personally loved the response from Specsavers, which we discussed at the time in a previous blog.
These reactive marketing schemes can often increase your brand’s perception with the general public and your target audience, allowing for some personality to come through. Being quick to turn these stories around and respond shows that you are on the pulse of what’s going on in the world. It also shows how effective it is when you can turn ideas into delivery, quickly. Depending on the topic, it can often win you more dedicated fans or followers. It’s a great way to connect with people and let them know the opinions of your business and the people within it – not just an unrelatable company. There are lots of things that you can use to help stay on top of stories and industries, whether that be social media tools like TweetDeck or simply keeping abreast of the news.
Give it a try and remember to #BeNifty – if you ever want our help, you know where we are.
