Episode 165 - Stok’d Next to Stok’d Ad Reviewed by Elida Beauty, Bausch + Lomb, DiDi and AB InBev
In Canada, it’s legal to sell cannabis, but not to advertise it. So Stok’d recruited businesses to advertise for them… indirectly.
This loophole advertising strategy is a little rebellious, a little intriguing, but also maybe just not that effective, according to our guests on Advertisers Watching Ads this week.
What could Stok’d have done better to attract new users? Is there room to improve brand awareness with this creative storytelling? Could the ad series chosen by Contagious unlock more creative value by taking different angles? Tune in to see it and hear from our guests Diana Figliuolo (Digital Hub Lead at Elida Beauty), Tatyana Jones (Brand Director at Bausch + Lomb), Erika Alvarez (Regional Head of Media at DiDi) and Sebastian Schuliaquer (Director of Insights for Premium Brands at AB InBev).
Episode 165 - Stok’d Next to Stok’d Ad Reviewed by Elida Beauty, Bausch + Lomb, DiDi and AB InBev
Transcript
This is automatically generated, so it’s not 100% accurate.
Amy Wright 00:00
Welcome, everybody to Advertisers Watching Ads. The weekly panel show where brands talk about the work of other brands. My name is Amy Wright, and I head up Global Strategy at Automated Creative. And we bring you this panel show in cooperation with our partners at Contagious. So before we get to this week's ad, let's meet our panel.
Diana Figliuolo 00:42
Hi, I am Diana Figliuolo. I am a Digital Hub Lead at Elida Beauty, which is an entity under Unilever.
Sebastian Schuliaquer 00:50
Hi, Tatyana Jones. I am a Brand Director at Bausch + Lomb.
Erika Alvarez 00:55
Hi, I'm Erika Alvarez, and I'm the Head of Media for LatAm at DiDi.
Sebastian Schuliaquer 00:58
Hi, I am Sebastian Schuliaquer. Director of Insights for premium brands at ABI.
Amy Wright 01:06
So an absolutely cracking panel this week and lots of people with lots of regulatory experience, which is helpful because something a little bit different this week for AWA and we are going to be reviewing Canadian brand Stok’d Cannabis and their campaign “Next to Stok’d.”
Erika Alvarez 01:33
I want to get a first thought and a first impression of what you thought of the campaign. After three, we're all going to hold up our ratings for the ads. One, two, three... we got really mixed across the board. Okay. I love this. Erika, if you want to kick us off, what were some of your initial thoughts about the campaign? They get to use media in ways that are not necessarily typically used, traditional media. And I think I like that because I think they are winning in the ambition to advertise through the loopholes. I appreciate that they try to be funny and I think they achieve it and they are giving us a lot of innuendoes in their community, in their cannabis communities so that I appreciate.
Diana Figliuolo 04:09
Okay. So I'm stuck because when I wear two different hats I have two different thoughts.
Amy Wright 04:09
Oh, okay...
Diana Figliuolo 04:09
So, the strategic choice to have this sort of storytelling I thought was amazing, like casting, the script, all of that, like it's so charming and but still, like you're still questioning, like, “What is happening here?” When I put on my media effectiveness lens, there are some things where I thought, no branding in the beginning, which to me I'm like, “Wow, you only have a couple of seconds to...” So that kind of like, triggered me a little bit. And then I think it took, yeah, it just takes a little too long to understand what's actually happening because at first I was like, “I don't understand. Like, is this an SNL skit?” Which I like... So like the creative storytelling, I really liked. But then on the other side, “Would this be effective?” is where I'm struggling. There are certain rules where I'm like, that kind of miss just a little bit.
Tatyana Jones 04:57
You know, from any ad copy what I look for is: does it drive awareness? Does it drive branding? Does a drive break through? And is there purchase intent? So when you have an over a 30-second piece of content and you're really... in most of them, you're not showing branding until the very end. To me, that's a fail. Now maybe that's a fail that you can optimize and get to a really good spot because it is talking to their current audience. They're talking to their consumer, but are they gaining new consumers that might not know anything about Stok’d? The answer to me is no, so that to me is strategically off and effectively off. A lot of optimization in my mind that they would do. I could see it working as a PR stunt. So that's probably where they're going with this.
Sebastian Schuliaquer 05:44
This is a category that can not recruit new users. So I feel that if you are a user of the category, you will get it right away. This ad is directed to someone that knows the category, uses the category and understands the city. This is not to expand business. This is to create awareness among people that already use the category and understand the benefits of the category and uses that language to discover the category. And then it said, “Oh, and you can buy it here.”
Tatyana Jones 06:20
The one question mark and I don't know Canadian law. I am in the U.S. So if you're not allowed to advertise within a certain category, it doesn't matter if it's next door to Stok’d and you're showing the end card was Stok’d... You are advertising So I had a question mark about that. I think the appeal is there for the target audience because there's almost like a backdoor rebel type of feel to it. So if they're doing it for that effect and it's actually legal, great.
Diana Figliuolo 06:46
So when you're already in a controversial category, the rebel inside of me is like, “Why not be the challenger and why not test it?” I thought what they did, you know, the workaround, I thought that was brilliant. In a world where we are inundated with so many different things digitally, and I thought taking that risk was really smart. I liked it.
Amy Wright 07:04
What are your thoughts around this category and where to even position it? So do you position it like a farmer, an alcohol type category, or is it positioned as a lifestyle brand where actually the regulations are really lagging and just haven't caught up with the reality of the world that we live in now? If you were kind of the marketer on this, how would you be thinking about this and how would you be approaching this?
Erika Alvarez 07:25
It's changing, right? It's evolving. The perception of... This is something that has been prohibited for the entire time of it. What I see is that they are setting a precedent in a category that it's new. Investing is growing. So let's talk about differentiation and memorability. So I think what they are doing with a super lean campaign, I think they are getting that. I think they are winning on the attention’s economy. I think they are understanding the target. I think they are understanding the category. And I think they are being both. They are presenting a personality. They are showing some witty, they are showing some smart, and the clever, right... So I think I would go bolder. I would definitely thought more thoroughly, the effectiveness of the campaign and be part of a larger strategy. I think it's a winning execution. I think they done it right.
Tatyana Jones 08:13
It is seeming like they are hitting hard on your typical cannabis user with all of the things that connect to that user in the campaign. If you are trying to grow the category, then maybe you... get your stay at home mom. That's like, you know, stressed at the end of the day. That is a different way of talking to a consumer. “Hey, there's just a little bit of something to look forward to at the end of your day.”
Amy Wright 08:40
Yeah, because actually for something very rebellious, it really plays into a lot of stereotypes about the category that I think, I love this idea of actually, maybe we need to challenge that target and that approach even, even more though...
Sebastian Schuliaquer 08:50
It has a long legs. So you can imagine more and more execution, fine tuning, and I feel that this could last for a long time. So I think that from a creative idea of saying, “Hey, this is the category!” And they find ways of talking about the category and they said, “We are located next to the weed shop.” I think that it is very memorable. It's straight to the point. I feel that, you know, here we are talking about it. So I will say, yeah.
Amy Wright 09:22
Great point. Let's call a bit of a vote now. Would you have signed off on this campaign and its current form? One, two, three... Yeah, I could see the tension there. So thank you for everyone who's been taking part in this week's panel show. We’ll be back next week with another episode and we've been Advertisers Watching Ads, and thank you very much. Bye.
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