Marketing Spotlight: Lola Tampons
the perfect marketing moment with lola tampons
Category: Career & Work
Read Time: 5 minutes
As a total marketing geek with a passion for brands, there are so many times I'll run into a perfect marketing moment and I simply can't ignore it.
It immediately pulls me in and I eat it all up --- the use of voice, the on-brand visuals, the symmetry, the style, the uniqueness, but most importantly the story.
And that's exactly what happened today. I was going through youtube, watching a mandatory ad while I patiently waited for my make-up review video to load when - BAM.
I saw it: a 30 second clip of a remarkable ad.
And I loved it.
So today, we're going to explore how a 30 second Lola Tampons commercial executed on 3 marketing moments.
These moment not only set this company apart from the little league players (and the big ones) but it also completely hooks it's viewers and captures their target market. For those of you that haven't seen the commercial yet, watch this first so you can follow along:
Okay, ready?
Let's do this.
marketing spotlight: LOLA TAMPON COMMERCIAL
There are 2 parts to telling a strong brand story: the set-up and the actual story itself.
One cannot exist without another.
You may have an incredible brand story, but if your set-up is poor, nobody will ever stay long enough to hear it. On the contrary, you may have an engaging set-up, but if your brand story is weak, you will leave your potential customers disappointed and unsatisfied in what your set-up promised.
Lola Tampon's has managed to create both a strong set-up and an incredible story that takes the reader for a ride and then rewards them for sticking around.
This is not an easy thing to do - so today we’re going to explore exactly how this was accomplished.
1) THE UNDENIABLE HOOK
"This is a tampon."
Those 4 words are the opening sentence of the Lola Tampon commercial, accompanied by a single hand placing a tampon on a solid background.
It's simple, it's clear, it's concise, and it works. Why? Because it's hinting at way more than it initially alludes.
Everyone knows what a tampon is. If you're a girl, you're probably used to using one, and if you're a guy, you're probably used to avoiding one. With a simple statement like, "this is a tampon", Lola is introducing something very familiar (that society still finds slightly uncomfortable) in a very plain and simple way.
And although discomfort may seem like a bad thing, society has a history of being drawn to things that make us a little uncomfortable - emphasis on a little.
Think about it - why is it so hard to look away from things that slightly gross you out? Like the 3 minute video clips of America's Worst Hoarders that you sometimes watch on Youtube? Or My Crazy Obsession? Or clusters of small holes? Or people popping pimples? Or Untold Stories of the ER?
It's because it's interesting - a little uncomfortable, but also intriguing.
And there's a certain level that you can present an uncomfortable topic at that turns it from "I don't want to hear about it" to "This is weird.. but kind of interesting” - and Lola Tampon has found that level.
Also take note of the color of the background that the tampon is placed on. It's blue - a nice neutral blue (not too dark and not too light). Colors naturally create a reaction inside of our brain and can introduce different types of emotions, depending on how it's used. For example, the presence of red creates emotions of either anger or romance, while yellow creates emotion of caution or happiness.
On the contrary, the presence of blue creates an emotion of calmness and peace. So when Lola paired the slightly uncomfortable product of a tampon on a neutral blue background, it subconsciously creates a balance inside the viewers mind as if to say, "Hey, we're talking about something slightly uncomfortable today, but it's okay."
Think about how the statement and placement would have caused a different reaction if the background was bright red or orange.
2) THE POWER OF SUBTLE LANGUAGE
Lola Tampon does a good job of maintaining that peace through the use of subtle language.
Following the introduction of the tampon, she then lists 3 simple statistics about tampons.
The dimensions and weight of the tampon.
100,000s of women will use a tampon this month.
On average, a women will use 10,000 tampons in her lifetime.
Now although these may come off as unimportant and just transitional facts to move along the story line - they actually play a larger purpose. Each fact continues to soften up the uncomfortable moment and allows the viewer to subconsciously become attached to the brand story.
There are 3 ways that Lola Tampon achieves this.
The dimensions and weight of the tampon. She establishes hard facts, with no bias. This would've received a completely different reaction if the next words after, "This is a tampon" was "and they have chemicals inside of them." The viewer may have completely written off the entire commercial and moved on because of there was no red line drawing to the conclusion and it was heavily biased.
"100,000s of women will use a tampon this month." This statement subconciously brings a sense of camaraderie and familiarity. It helps establish that, "we're all in this together" and that it's not just "you" but "us".... 100,000s of us in fact.
"On average, a women will use 10,000 tampons in her lifetime." This statement takes it a bit further to transition from us to you by creating a moment for you to think about yourself (if you're a girl) or another female that may be close to you (if you're a guy). This begins to create the emotional connection between your story and Lola's.
In the first 12 seconds of the commercial, Lola manages to use these 3 harmless statistics to create a subconscious connection with the viewer by building her credibility, bringing a sense of familiarity and camaraderie, and interweaving the viewer into her story.
3) THE POWER OF STRIKING LANGUAGE
All of these things have grasped the viewer and placed them in the story with the brand.
Now it's up to Lola to keep the momentum going - which she does with the use of striking language.
Language can be one of the most underestimated marketing strategies that can target your potential customers and help them identify that they are in the right place.
Lola does an amazing job of establishing who they are and who they're talking to when she follows her own questions, "What is in a tampon? Do you know what it's made out of?" with---
"Because I sure as hell didn't."
In 5 relatable and striking words, Lola has established exactly who her brand is and who she's speaking to.
Immediately I recognized that Lola has established it's brand as honest, genuine, and trustworthy.
She's like one of your favorite girlfriends who is super relatable, truly cares for you, but isn't afraid to tell you how it is --- and will also be the one to dig up dirt on your *suspecting* cheating boyfriend.
And with a brand so strong, it's easy for a viewer to tell if Lola is the right product for them or not.
If you get extremely offended by any swearing of any kind, the Lola Tampon brand is probably too cool for you. (this is a joke, don't come for me.)
If you don't regularly wear tampons, the Lola Tampon brand isn't solving a problem that's a huge concern to you and therefore is not your really that intriguing.
If you don't get periods anymore (and it's because of menopause), the Lola Tampon brand is probably a *smidge* too Kate McKinnon to your Betty White and may not be your cup of tea - but could be for someone you know.
And that's okay. It's easy to get caught up in the fear that you could potentially be excluding people but it's okay to know who your target audience is.
If you try to be a product for everyone you will be a product for no one.
And you'll have much better conversion spending time on people that actually care about what you're selling.
Lola Tampons discovered that every person watching up to or past 17 seconds of their 3 minute and 15 second commercial are the people she actually created the video for in the first place.
And regardless if it's a smaller pool than the amount of people that were at 0:01, it's the pool that they know they have a real chance of speaking to.
They're the people that identify with the tampon problem or are simply curious - what exactly is in a tampon?
And this is why the brand story is so important.
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER: THE BRAND STORY
You can have a strong set up with all of those great marketing tools (a cool hook or some nice subtle and striking language) but the story is what truly brings it home.
And I can confidently say that Lola Tampon's brand story is absolutely phenomenal.
Lola uses the remainder of 10 seconds or so of the first 30 seconds to launch into the brand story - and she wastes no time to keep you interested in an captivating and relatable recount of how two girls came to create Lola Tampon - an organic menstrual product company.
Yes, every tampon company has probably taken a stab at trying to be original and enthralling - they talk about periods openly and how much they suck.
They talk about how their pads/tampons are better than others, and they talk about the different types of products they have and/or lines they're coming out with.
But I have never seen a brand that does it as artfully as Lola does.
(If you have, I would love to check it out! Send me the link and we can chat about it together!)
To learn more about Lola Tampons, you can visit them at www.mylola.com.
*** This is not a sponsored blog post by any means, I'm just a huge marketing geek that loves branding lol.
Thanks for tuning in bumblebees!
Until next time,
The Corporate Queen
---
2 Corinthians 5:7
For we walk by faith not by sight.