Episode 134 - K-Lynn Self-Check Out Ad Reviewed by SAP and Cisco
Breast cancer awareness is undoubtedly important. However, when K-Lynn lingerie brand decided to highlight the importance of personal self-checks, they did it in a rather out-of-context manner, on their website.
This week’s ad chosen by Contagious, K-Lynn Self-Check out, has good intentions, but does it actually deliver enough for the brand? Is it a bit too blunt or is that the right tone for what it’s aiming to achieve?
Join us on Advertisers Watching Ads as we debate this campaign along with our guests Allison Gapter (VP Global Partner Marketing at SAP) and Tom Webster (EMEA Paid Social Media Manager at Cisco & Co-Owner and Communications Manager for DMC Brewery).
Episode 134 - K-Lynn Self-Check Out Ad Reviewed by SAP and Cisco
Transcript is automatically generated, so not perfect, but you get the idea!
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello, and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads. My name is Tom Ollerton. I'm the founder of Automated Creative and this is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads.
Tom Ollerton 0:36
We are brought to you as ever by our partners, Contagious. So thanks guys for once again finding another innovative piece of work but before we see that, let's meet our lovely guests.
Allison Gapter 0:46
Allison Gapter. I'm calling in from Longmont, Colorado. I'm the Global Vice President of Partner Marketing, and I'm with a company called SAP, may have heard of it.
Tom Webster 0:57
Hi, I'm Tom Webster. I am a Paid Social Media Manager at Cisco and I also co-own and I'm the Communications Manager for a brewery called DMC Brewery. A maker of alcoholic ginger beers and more.
Tom Ollerton 1:12
Fantastic. Right, let's see this week's ad.
Tom Ollerton 3:29
I'd like you to give it a vote out of five. One, two, three...
Allison Gapter 3:39
I wondered if this was the actual ad. So I'm not so sure about that, you know, they showed some of the different photos from the website. And all I could think of was, I hope there's good context on their website to set up these different photos of the women, you know, touching their own breasts, because without the context, I think it could generate a lot of confusion. But I do think it's brilliant.
Tom Ollerton 4:07
What's your view on it?
Tom Webster 4:07
This is the thing, I mean, it's not an ad, it's, it's just a... A change on their website. And in all honesty, it's a great idea. It should be done. It's, if one person checks their breast and finds out they've got something a little bit wrong, and it saves their life, campaign is, is one of the best campaigns ever to save someone's life. The thing is, it doesn't seem like they did enough.
Allison Gapter 4:31
They could do some splash pages on their website to highlight, "If you're not doing this, let us show you how." Or, "Did you know what the statistics are on, you know, breast cancer rates in..." Whatever countries they're, they're aiming at. There's some more things they could do to set up that context, right? And not have people kind of scratching their heads going, "Okay, why is she touching herself in this photograph? And does that mean I should get this bra because..." Right?
Tom Webster 4:58
Yeah, it's it's it does seem like subtlety is not the order of the day when it comes to your own health. You shouldn't be subtle. You should be a bit of a sledgehammer and, you know, make it as obvious as possible that, you know, if you're, if you are in the mood to buy a bra, you could also, you know, take two minutes and save your own life, the ideal thing is that they, you know, hook up with any other lingerie manufacturers in that country, and do as a coordinated effort, if they could all change their websites to do this, that would generate more earned media. I'm sure there are bigger marketing budgets from bigger companies who could do this, and they could spread the message more effectively. A hundred points for the execution of what's on the website and the idea behind it, but no points for the actual advertising behind it.
Allison Gapter 5:46
I think it's an ongoing concept that you could build upon, right? That you could integrate more into your all your mainstream marketing plans, right? Like, why not? Why wouldn't you integrate this across all your communications to your customers and your prospects, right? And make this really like the leading thing that you're talking about when you're, when you're marketing your lingerie. I don't know if they want to necessarily reach out to other brands too, because I'd be afraid of diluting my own message. But I absolutely would, would leverage the little bit of momentum that they have. And just start using that as a, as a leading component of my marketing plans going forward.
Tom Webster 6:27
You know, first thing I saw was "self-checkout" on a website. How does that work? I'm already paying with my credit card. I'm already doing all the work. Oh, now I see this.
Allison Gapter 6:36
Yeah.
Tom Webster 6:36
Check yourself out?
Tom Webster 6:38
No, you need to have instantly got it. You know, even if it isn't as clever, clever as self-checkout. So, yeah.
Allison Gapter 6:45
You know, as a marketing person, what the message is in your head, right? So you just assume people know what you're talking about. And I think that's the case here.
Tom Webster 6:53
As someone working in B2B tech, you kind of forget that occasionally. And you're like, "Of course, everyone knows what a network switch is, everyone understands, you know, full stack observability." You know, and we all use the same acronyms. We don't. No, we don't. Everyone talks about things differently. And we have to remember that or else your marketing campaign is for yourself. You're the only person who understands it.
Allison Gapter 7:18
You know, one thing that struck me, right, from the get go, on that video is, 60 minutes of browsing per day on clothing. And I'm thinking, "Okay, if you're talking to a big group of people who spend over an hour a day browsing for clothes, and lingerie, they may not be the most receptive to a hidden message, right?" You got to be super explosive.
Tom Webster 7:45
They've done step one, they should, hopefully, they can build on this and do step three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And just keep going. Hopefully, hopefully, they don't forget about it. Hopefully, they come back and they do more. If they don't, it may have done a good job, but I think that's good. But I think it needs a lot more work. It definitely needs... I just find it off, but I'll build on it.
Allison Gapter 8:09
I kinda would take the reversal or like, I would want to see that, the setup, right? What's the setup? Why, especially on the website, because you're using that is, that's your only call to action, is go to that website. And if someone happened to just Google, you know, "I need a bra and I live in Lebanon." And they hit this site and they see these photographs. They're going to, they may be like, "Well, this is kind of perverted. Why are the women touching themselves?" What seems to be inappropriately but is wholly appropriate, right? So I'd like to see the setup. And then the launch. I think the, I think the creative or the I don't want to say creative, I think the the photoshoots, Great. I just think it needs the setup upfront. And then I would say, "Yeah, let's go full tilt." And build on it as well. I'm sure other ideas would come up as time rolls, right?
Tom Ollerton 9:09
Would you sign off this campaign? Thumbs up or down? One, two, three...
Tom Ollerton 9:17
Nice. Allison, Tom, unfortunately, we've got to leave it there. We'll see you all next week.
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