🍱 Miley Cyrus came in like a wrecking ball; To Be or not to B2B; Some inspo from Pfizer
Hello and welcome back to The Marketing Kable, where we're inspiring you with ideas, voices and campaigns we've curated just for you.
something to read
she's just being Miley. I'm extra excited this week because I get to write about an old love (Miley Cyrus) and a new love (marketing) in the same paragraph!!!!!! OK maybe my excitement gives away the sorry state of my love life, but I don't care.
Today's suggested reading is A look at the marketing campaign behind Miley Cyrus's number one single, Flowers by Mawunyo Gbogbo. This is Miley's first mainstream hit in a decade (makes my blood boil, honestly), so marketers all over the world (and on TikTok) are trying to understand how her team did what they did.
In the past Miley's life and her clothes, or lack of them, have received more media attention rather than her music. Which is a shame because any true Miley fan will tell you she's been making music all along and honing her craft. Flowers was streamed a 101 million times in a single week on Spotify, the highest ever by any artist and debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. So what did team Miley do to transform the former teen superstar turned controversial pop artist, into a record breaker?
In the article, Campaign Edge's creative director Dee Madigan shares her insights. According to Madigan, certain choices set the song up for success: releasing the breakup anthem/self-empowerment bop on her ex-husband's birthday, making direct references to their personal lives in the lyrics but keeping it vague enough so everyone can relate, fueling fan speculation by not accepting or denying listeners' theories about the song's context.
These are textbook tools drawn from the Taylor Swift school of marketing, where she drops 'easter eggs' in her lyrics and album notes for fans to decipher, making them feel like she has a special connection with them, an all-access pass to her inner worlds.
At first glance, this tactic might seem useful only when you're promoting a musical artist, but I think there's quite a lot all marketers can take away:
Don't over-promote. Generate interest, not annoyance, by keeping your campaign subtle and precise: Miley's new single was announced via one TV show, some social posts, and a couple of billboards in L.A., that's all. She didn't do interviews with all the Late Night Jimmys and appear on random morning shows to promote her then-yet-to-be-released single. Mystery flames fan interest.
Keep it relatable: Flowers is a deeply personal song about Miley's post-divorce self-love journey. It talks about a relationship that lasted for over a decade. But the song isn't filled with specific references that wouldn't make sense to most. Instead, it chooses to focus on universal emotions and activities ("I can buy myself flowers.. I can hold my own hand"). Relatability is often a major driver of virality, you know it.
Let your users market for you: In Miley's case, her fans did the heavy lifting in a way. They loved the song so much, and they had so. many. theories. They couldn't stop talking about the song and they had to tell the world. And tell the world they did.
Flowers spawned millions of TikTok videos with detailed analyses of the lyrics and videos, dances, covers and even trends like "self-dating".
Turns out, if you make something people love, they're going to want to share it with everyone else.
something to watch
in the box but out of the box. A couple of weeks ago, I found myself squashed against the wall of a tiny Sufi shrine packed with a quadruple amount of people it was built to accommodate. The only thing I could see was the ceiling and my life flashing before my eyes as I tried to jostle and push others out of my way to reach the exit (drop me a line if you want the deets).
This ad by Raseedi App took me right back to that very moment.
Raseedi, which means "my credit" in Arabic, is a financial technology app serving clients in Egypt. Launched in January 2023, this ad was part of a campaign to promote offerings aimed at solving problems related to lack of funds, such as running out of mobile credit or internet data.
The goal of this campaign is to show off Raseedi's newest services that make life easier for people who struggle with running out of mobile credit or internet data because of a lack of money. The ad has a really tense, close-up shot that opens up to show the product demo, giving you a chance to breathe and relax.
Few TVC makers think of manipulating the four corners of the screen to elicit visceral reactions from viewers. Raseedi's ad, created by Allthingsdibo and What To? breaks the mould and stands apart from the endless carousel of TVCs viewers are subjected to on a daily basis.
I'm taking notes, and I know you are too.
something to listen to
HW2DO B2B. This week's recommendation is the B2B Made Simple podcast. It's aimed at marketers in B2B SaaS or tech companies.
Each week, the show features experienced B2B marketers sharing their strategies for generating leads and revenue for their companies. The show provides a wealth of practical marketing tips that listeners can easily implement in their own businesses.
In addition to the main show, you can also access additional episodes featuring interviews with the CEO and co-founder of the podcast, Sam Moss, as well as content from other marketing podcasts.
I would start with the episode where Andrew Hoerner, a fractional SaaS CMO, tells you how to get the party started.
Everyone needs a little marketing inspiration in their lives. Recommend The Marketing Kable to a friend.
something to inspire
what's your plan C(ovid)? Today's inspiration is Pfizer. I know, I know. The name itself is enough to bring unwanted flashbacks of quarantines, and lockdowns, and RT PCR tests and vaccines, but hear me out.
Pfizer has a microsite called Know Plan Go, featuring celebrities sharing their own plans for what they will do if they're COVID-19 positive.
The website is designed to put a human face on COVID and to encourage visitors to explore treatment options. And, of course, Pfizer's antiviral Paxlovid (which made a whopping $9.5 billion in just the first half of 2022) is one of those options. But the website does a smooth job of not making it all about their drug.
And that's the inspirational bit.
something to learn
ya b2b beastie. This week, our Harsha delivers again with a stellar B2B social media strategy guide from Sculpt. It's a comprehensive guide that answers questions you haven't even thought of yet. You need to make some time in your schedule to go through the whole thing and trust me; you'll be coming back to it again and again.
I've put some of the main points down here, but you really need to give it a thorough reading to squeeze all that sweet marketing juice out of it.
Take the time to clearly outline what you hope to achieve. Focus on one business goal per campaign and select one key performance indicator (KPI) for each social media channel.
Establish guidelines for measuring engagement across social media channels.
Identify ways to measure social media lead generation.
Align your B2B social media goals with your other operations.
That's it for this edition of The Marketing Kable. If you received this newsletter as a forward, do consider signing up. It's forever free and just for you.