Creationist WOM Eggs-ample

Last year, CBS promoted its fall television shows on Water Coolers and Prescription Bags. This year, CBS is using “On-Egg Messaging” from Egg Fusion to promote its new shows.

“On-Egg Messaging” is a classic example of Creationist WOM at work. Marketers believing in Creationist WOM contend meaningful Word-of-Mouth Marketing can be an artificially amplified occurrence. These marketers believe they can create conversations between customers through capturing their attention.

According to a Dallas Morning News article, Egg Fusion frames its sales pitch by promoting there are at least four consumer impressions per egg. The first impression happens when you open the egg carton in-store to see if there are any broken eggs. Second impression occurs at-home when you transfer the eggs from its carton to the egg container in your refrigerator. The third impression is when you take the eggs out of the refrigerator as you prep for a meal. And the fourth impression happens when you crack the egg shell. (Impressed?)

George Schweitzer, CBS Marketing Group president, bought the Egg Fusion sales pitch and has high hopes for the effectiveness of the advertising tactic. He’s quoted in the Dallas Morning News article as saying, “It's one of the ways we can be intrusive and inclusive. It's right in your face. You can't avoid it.”

I agree with George … we can’t avoid it. However, we can be annoyed by it. This “On-Egg Messaging” advertising tactic reeks of ad creep to me.

Let’s hope CBS saved some of its marketing dollars to spend on making their television shows worth talking about because if the only thing worth talking about is their “On-Egg Messaging” ... then CBS’s Fall Schedule is in trouble.

Comments

[Jon Gabriel]

If I open a carton of eggs in the grocery store and see writing all over them, I'll immediately look for a different brand. This could really backfire on the company selling the eggs since I would continue avoiding that brand in the future, afraid of new marketing messages.

[VeeDub]

Wow. I guess this is the extreme opposite of sustainable marketing - messages carried on something so perishable that it could give you food poisoning if you hold onto it too long.

[brandon barr]

From a copywriting perspective, the puns are inexcusable. If you're gonna be in my face, you better damn well make it worth my time.

Too bad, because it could have been something good. And the perishable quality of the message could work really well in some advertising contexts--as long as the jokes aren't expired before you put them on the egg.

Little more rant here:
http://texturl.net/?p=619

[Rhea]

This is not just 'ad creep' but downright 'creepy'. I think this approach will make thinking people irate.

[Andy Woolard]

Wow. I can't figure out if it's sad or maddening that a marketing exec is quoted lauding the intrusiveness of his "message." Yikes. I would, however, be impressed if CBS could stamp their show schedule to coincide with the eggs' expiration dates.
"Purchase before The Amazing Race"

[ann michael]

I'm with Jon. If I open an egg carton and find eggs with messages, I'm looking for a different brand. What's next banana peels? Does anyone out there think this is a good idea (other than CBS and Egg Fusion)?

[Eric]

Great minds: LINK TO POST
I think this is a solid idea. Like I say in my post - its going to be more about the execution and messaging than anything else. Imagine if each egg had a different add? Then breakfast would really be in trouble.

[Lewis Green]

I think this is a good idea gone bad from lousy execution. My eating habits are not prudish by any standards but I refuse to purchase eggs that have writing on them. And until someone convinces me that that messaging my egg shells does not pollute my food, that is my position.

Too bad, because I think that driving WOM with this sort of messaging has great potential. But it doesn't take a marketing genius to understand that you must avoid messing with perishable and sensitive food items and creating in-your-face, intrusive marketing communications. What next? Branding my meat with CSI messaging?

One would think CBS could find Marketing VPs who are a bit more sensitive and tuned into the marketplace.

[Jim Caruthers]

I think the main point here is what you said in your last sentence. As Seth Godin pointed out once, Lincoln/Mercury spends an enormous amount of money marketing a mediocre product, while BMW spends a comparatively miniscule amount of money marketing a great product. Which is better?

I recently went to go see the movie, “V is for Vendetta”. Don’t ask me why, I just had some time to kill, and it was starting soonest. That was the first movie I’ve ever walked out of. As I left, I truly could not believe how much money was spent in the creation and marketing of this (in my opinion) terrible movie. The egg idea is, in my opinion, a good idea, as long as money was spent making the shows they’re marketing great.

http://www.humanbeingcurious.com

[John Dodds]

Egg container? Regarding them as you take them out of the container?

Methinks you spend far too much time being impressed by your eggs.

[Don The Idea Guy]

Which came first, the chicken or the egg with the ChickenCorp. logo printed on the shell? ;)

[Matt Bretz]

Maybe CBS bought the sales pitch because of political reasons. Relative of the CEO maybe?

I wouldn't eat an egg that had writing on it.

[Ernie Mosteller]

It'll work once, like the million pixel page, and the pet rock (though definitely nowhere near as well.) Once, because they're the first major player to do it. Once because the novelty will, in fact, generate WOM. Has already. Won't work twice, though. Twice is creep. A little creepy. At least as purchased space. Maybe for an egg brand, though - think Sunkist fruit - maybe.

[Pol Pot Pie]

If they are giving the eggs away, I can see this working– but much like the way people get pissed off after paying $10+ for a movie and having to sit through commercials, people will be pissed. Why pay money to be advertised to? Especially for something that has nothing to do with the product it's advetised on… and don't get me started on the terrible egg-phrases they are using.

[Cal Evans]

As a cook, I've got to ask. Who the hell reads their eggs?

=C=

[Mary Schmidt]

Ditto C's comment. I personally ignore just about all ads (even on eggs) anyway.

And, even if noticed once, after that folks will quickly begin to ignore the writing on the egg (just like they don't read their cereal boxes.) As Seth Godin notes, A purple cow is interesting for a time or two, then after that, it's "just a purple cow."

[johnmoore (from Brand Autopsy)]

Lots of great chatter here.

Putting ink on eggs isn't new. Some egg producers ink stamp expiration dates directly on eggs. In fact, the eggs I have in my fridge are all ink stamped with an expiry date

This whole on-egg messaging tactic is remarkable and quite purplish. CBS has received loads of digital ink about it. But the problem is ... people are talking about what CBS did and not what CBS does.

As I've said many times before ... as a marketer, I want people to talk about the products and services a company does rather than talk about the advertising a company did.

[Laura]

And to think I was freaked out when I saw the little ad stickers on my fruit a few years ago!

I thought it was ironic that the creepy little sticker on my orange was advertising the movie "The Grinch".

Who stole Christmas.

With crass commercialization.

Just what we DON'T need -- more intrusive and unconnected ads on our food supply, of all things!

Anybody know how well that "fruit ad" campaign worked out? Did it make audiences want to run out and buy Grinch tickets?

[Lewis Green]

Mary, I'll take your word for it but even if putting ink on eggs is not new (my eggs don't have ink on them and I have never seen ink on eggs), that doesn't mean it's a safe practice. Sorry, I want to buy eggs in the same condition or better than when they were laid. As for the buzz around the strategy, as a marketer I think the wom strategies do create conversation around products and services when done well. I suspect we are talking about the advertising because that is the subject of this particular discussion

[cokenour]

One (of many) error on CBS's part is failing to realize that not all WOM is good WOM. I haven't even seen a printed egg yet and already I'm considering CBS to be run poorly.
Maybe they'll be a hit with people who keep a TV in the kitchen.

I can't wait for the food colored advertising that's sure to come in the form of "burger-banners" and "sandwitch signs". Just think how much ad space you get with a "super-size"!

[Max Hansen]

1: I have bought eggs with writing on them. The message was the egg's expiration date. I wasn't bothered by it in the least.

2: Ernie, says "maybe for an egg brand, though--think Sunkist fruit." Correct.

There's a difference between the highly intrusive and irrelevant ad on the egg, and a simple reminder of what brand of egg I am about to enjoy. I actually know good eggs from okay eggs, and if I meet a really good egg and the carton is gone, it would be nice to know the brand.

I've long wished that toilet paper companies would print their brand names on the inside of the TP rolls. That way, when I'm away from home and encounter a brand that's better than the one I use, I can peek inside the edge of the roll and know what brand to switch to. As it is, I know I'm not using the best, but TP doesn't play an important enough role in my life for me to launch a search for a better brand. Even easier, perhaps, just to emboss the brand name on every xth square of the paper itself. Paper towels have advertised themselves this way for some time.

[JC]

There seems to be many people hung up on the advertising. The "tamper proof" expiration date and traceability code, is what we need to be focused on. The advertising pays for the code. Sounds brilliant to me

[Charlene]

I bet you anything that the ink is soy-based, which means that the egg companies get to have big WARNING ALLERGEN labels on them. Idiots.

Warning labels: the best way to sell your product.