We all know from our own experiences that the more you give, the more you get. This is true in our personal lives and this is also true in advertising. In traditional advertising, ads that give the audience some type of reward for watching, like entertainment value or some type of personal benefit, tend to do very well and ads that offer nothing to the audience tend to be ignored (check out this hilariously boring Tax Masters commercial). This is equally true for nontraditional and social-network advertising.
Recently, the comedy troupe, Monty Python, uploaded all of their skits online for free with the hopes that people will buy their movies. The videos spread virally and the results were an astounding 2,300 percent increase in sales.
Starbucks is another company that has been a leader in this new trend with their free cup of coffee for everyone who voted on Election Day and more recently, a free cup for everyone who pledges five hours of community service. The Pledge 5 campaign has not only created a huge buzz with over 1.3 million service hours pledged, but it has also branded themselves as a socially responsible company in a very genuine way.
Mr Youth, a New York based interactive and experiential agency, has done its part to help define this rule with the Neutrogena Wave campaign. High school students nationwide were incentivized through a Facebook application to go to the Wave’s website, watch commercials, download a coupon, and tell their friends about the Wave. The school that had the most people actively participate won a free concert. 25 percent of all high schools participated and the Wave has since become the fourth most popular product on Amazon.com for facial skincare products – proving that ‘tis better to give than to receive, but best to do both.
