In a desperate cry to gain attention in a sea of competing marketing campaigns, companies are leaning towards a new kind of marketing- DIY. This involves an interactive participation from the public and has been extremely successful during the economic crisis in maintaining loyal customers.

The rise of consumer involvement began after the worldwide call to enter the ‘Best Job in the World’ contest. An initiative for Tourism Queensland which offered a six month reef caretaker position, where the successful candidate was paid to travel to the various island of Queensland and blog about their experiences. The campaign brought worldwide interest and awareness about the islands of the Great Barrier Reef to the world. DIY marketing at its best. Not only were people across the globe lured by the advertising campaign for the prospects it offered if they won, but the winner, a UK citizen, signed up for ongoing promotion of the Queensland islands in his blog, successfully reaching friends across the world.

Then there is Smiths chips campaign, ‘Do us a Flavour’; a competition to name the next flavoured chip. In addition to the chip being named after the winner, they also receive a handsome sum of $30,000 plus 1% of all future sales of their flavoured chip. This competition has yet to be finalised, but the awareness and active contribution in the flavour naming competition has drastically increased interest in a brand that has been recently flagging amongst new gourmet chip brands.

Perhaps the most intriguing case of all though is Kraft’s, ‘name me’ DIY campaign for Vegemite. This campaign involved a new flavoured Vegemite that was labelled ‘name me’. The campaign was not based on a prize competition but offered entrants the chance to contribute to an iconic Australian brand with a flavour name that reflected Australian culture. Again, it played on the active involvement of consumers but cleverly constructed an artful twist. The launch of the new Vegemite flavour revealed the winning name as ‘iSnack 2.0’, a play on the successful ‘iPod’ product in a supposed attempt to gain popularity amongst the younger market. The public outcry was so extreme, that Vegemite have quickly renamed the product to a far more suitable title, ‘Cheesybite’.

Successful marketing or unsuccessful marketing? I say successful. Kraft attracted a great deal of attention by conferring this unsuitable and unpopular name to its iconic brand; gaining greater appreciation for the new ‘suitable’ name when revealing it than they would have if it had been the initial winner.

Here, we can revert back to the old story of marketing strategies. Good marketing gains attention, but sometimes ‘bad’ or annoying marketing retains attention. It seems that Kraft have done a little of both, succeeding so well that they became one of the most discussed topics in twittering news around the world.

Is it a case of a recession-busting marketing tool, or are the world of marketers realising the potential of consumers to actively produce content as well as consume it?

In any event, I think it screams loudly that in times of marketing difficulty, engaging your customers is critical to survival. Don’t just impress them, involve them.

Alexandra Kenny, Marketing Coordinator