I get the Cobra/curry connection. It's lager, it's sold in just about every indian restaurant ever, it's cool, refreshing, blah blah. I get a Facebook group called 'We Love Curry' because even I, spice wimp, like a good Korma now and then. What I can't get is why Cobra think that having this group with their logo on will in any way increase sales of lager. Let's not play games here, they haven't done it just because everyone at HQ loves curry and "WTFOMG let's make a cool group for us all to 'hang out' on together LOL". They have done it to increase people's perceptions that Cobra is the lager BEST SUITED to quenching the curry-fire after indulging. But facebookers aren't that way inclined. They will join the group and then never, ever look at it again. I know. I'm a group-a-holic. I join, post, and instantly forget.
That's not to say the problem couldn't be fixed. At least people will go on the page once, they might even read it, if they have time. Get 'em hooked, and quick. Get your REAL message out there. Surely, the group should be 'We love Cobra with our Curry'. Otherwise it is a completely pointless exercise. Thank God for Cobra that Facebook is free, I'm sure whatever convinced them to jump on this bandwagon wasn't.
Ruby.
I know that becoming a 'fan' of something is something you can do in 5 seconds and forget about. That's what happens when people get social media wrong. Everyone knows you need to have content to draw people in, and if it's just a shell-of-a-page which no one visits it's not that useful.
ReplyDeleteBut I think the message "We love curry" brought to you by cobra, does have a point. It doesn't need to be 'We love Cobra with our curry'. Its just like sponsoring something. The connection is made in peoples minds. What's more, they've beaten their competitors to creating the link. Just seeing it puts it in your mind and might inspire a purchase.
But you're point remains - it's a very short lived thing and without real engagement will be an opportunity missed.
You may be right, Tom. Perhaps I'm being too cynical... I just don't see it convincing anyone to actually buy more Cobra... Beer perhaps, but not that specific brand. I did consider that if it had Cobra in the title it wouldn't get as many people joining, since less people love Cobra and Curry than just curry on it's own... who knows, who knows. (damn it's early)
ReplyDeleteDid you click on it? I followed it through and they have some really good content there. Polls, recipes, video tutorials, discussions. Something just posted yesterday has 139 'likes', thats 139 people whose brand awareness has risen. I hate to say it, but Cobra are doing it well. There are of course examples of brands who aren't. I think you just picked a bad example!
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