I've been hearing a lot about how some people are resigned to the fact that their B2B Marcom is, by nature, boring. People ask things like, "The stuff is boring, what can I do?".
Baloney! It's only as boring as you let it be.
It seems that almost NOTHING could be less sexy, less potentially viral, than my products: solder paste, wafer-bumping fluxes, etc. These ingredients are used to manufacture circuitry for semiconductor packages, circuit boards, etc. that become our laptops and mobile phones. Add to that the fact that my target audience consists of highly-educated tecchies (electronics engineers, "nothing but the facts, ma'am") and it would seem that I should stick to the traditional product data sheets and boring brochures.
However, I refuse to accept that certain things are boring. Our company has unleashed a series of successful online video ads that have truly gone viral in our target audience. We have experienced literally thousands (a big number in our industry) of direct views and a large number of forwards and referrals. The videos are very popular at our exhibits, too.
I chose to focus on the actual "tecchieness" versus the product when creating these ads. The goal was to garner attention and enthusiasm by poking fun at our (collective) geekiness and obsession with technology. The product (and company) sort of gets in the way – guilt by strong association.
Frank Perdue continues to serve as a strong influence. It was he who said, "If you can differentiate a dead chicken, you can differentiate anything." I CAN differentiate solder paste. So can you – if you get a little creative and enthused.
Today, I was tipped off to a very interesting (NOT boring) treatment of something that typically puts everyone to sleep: the pre-flight safety message. Frequently delivered by a jaded and bored "seasoned" flight attendant, occasionally poorly read to us by a newbie flight attendant, and sometimes played over the video system, this message always seems the same. Judging by the delivery, the creators of the message seem to be bored by it all. Not so with Virgin America Airlines.