What Were They Thinking: Martha Stewart and the Motrin Sponsored Content Promotion
I am about to take you through a marketing campaign completely out of order.
Not because this is how it was intended, I am sure, while crafted in the conference rooms of Martha Stewart and Motrin. Simply because this is how I experienced it, first hand, as a consumer and I would bet I wasn't alone.
STEP ONE: THE EMAIL
This is a screen capture of an email I received this week from marketing maven and domestic diva Martha Stewart featuring sponsored content from Motrin called Flex Your Family Muscle At Home. (That name we can talk about later, but yuck-o-la!)
While a regular visitor to MarthaStewart.com, I had not come across this content and was not familiar with the campaign. The invitation to 'tell us what you think" piqued my interest, but alas there was no clear way to get to the content from the email.
The shaded areas were dead zones.
The one clear call to action was a live area: Take the Survey
(Only after running through this entire scenario did I discover that the title was also a live link to the content.)
So far, we have an awkwardly executed email campaign.
1. It's supposed to be about fun, family oriented content but visually looks like a medicine ad
2. The Martha Stewart logo doesn't link back to the site or to the sponsored content
3. I've not interacted with this content, yet Martha and Motrin are spending their one chance to grab my email attention betting that I have done so and asking for my opinion.
4. The call to action is take the survey, but am I really the right target?
How could we have improved this email?
1. Make the email about the content, visually down play the product visuals
2. Create two user paths clearly called out: one for browsing content and one for sharing opinion
STEP TWO: THE SURVEY
Question #1 and I'm already lost... "YOU invited me via email, people. Why isn't email a choice?"
Surely, when they crafted this entire campaign they knew they were going to reach out to folks via email. Not detrimental, just sloppy.
I browse through more of the questions and it becomes clear to me that this survey should have had a set of qualifying questions before the survey started. The first three questions are content-specific, and I've not read the content yet.
The questions in the survey are rather poor.
For example, number 7...
Which activities best fit with the Children's Motrin IB brand?
* crafts
* gardening
* cooking/baking
* home improvement/decorating
* household chores
* none of the above
The entire survey seems geared toward brand damage control rather than truly gaining consumer insight. A PDF (224k) of the survey is available here.
I complete the survey, and (finally!) I am directed to the content:
STEP THREE: THE CONTENT
A full-sized screen snap of this page is available here.
On first impression, this microsite is poorly designed, hard to read and dare I say BORING. It completely lacks the sense of style and craftsmanship of Martha.
This project is supposed to be #4 in a series, but there is no sign of the other content above the fold, so I go exploring.
The first link I find is the survey link, and I've just come from there.
The second link set I find is for some Martha Stewart content that seems unrelated to the Family Muscle series.
The third set of links are for some online video clips, and given that today is May 20th and the video was from Valentine's Day I did not find it to be overly helpful.
Finally... the fourth set of links a whopping 827 pixels down the screen hold the navigation I was looking for. (See the green square above).
Keep in mind that the average user isn't going to treasure hunt the way I did. They would have given up much sooner. So while Motrin probably paid big bucks to sponsor this Martha content, they probably aren't getting full value from that spend.
Bottom line... Thumbs down for both teams who are smart enough and experienced enough to know better.
The design and execution were amateur and sloppy, with no regard for the user experience.
Not because this is how it was intended, I am sure, while crafted in the conference rooms of Martha Stewart and Motrin. Simply because this is how I experienced it, first hand, as a consumer and I would bet I wasn't alone.
STEP ONE: THE EMAIL
This is a screen capture of an email I received this week from marketing maven and domestic diva Martha Stewart featuring sponsored content from Motrin called Flex Your Family Muscle At Home. (That name we can talk about later, but yuck-o-la!)
While a regular visitor to MarthaStewart.com, I had not come across this content and was not familiar with the campaign. The invitation to 'tell us what you think" piqued my interest, but alas there was no clear way to get to the content from the email.
The shaded areas were dead zones.
The one clear call to action was a live area: Take the Survey
(Only after running through this entire scenario did I discover that the title was also a live link to the content.)
So far, we have an awkwardly executed email campaign.
1. It's supposed to be about fun, family oriented content but visually looks like a medicine ad
2. The Martha Stewart logo doesn't link back to the site or to the sponsored content
3. I've not interacted with this content, yet Martha and Motrin are spending their one chance to grab my email attention betting that I have done so and asking for my opinion.
4. The call to action is take the survey, but am I really the right target?
How could we have improved this email?
1. Make the email about the content, visually down play the product visuals
2. Create two user paths clearly called out: one for browsing content and one for sharing opinion
STEP TWO: THE SURVEY
Question #1 and I'm already lost... "YOU invited me via email, people. Why isn't email a choice?"
Surely, when they crafted this entire campaign they knew they were going to reach out to folks via email. Not detrimental, just sloppy.
I browse through more of the questions and it becomes clear to me that this survey should have had a set of qualifying questions before the survey started. The first three questions are content-specific, and I've not read the content yet.
The questions in the survey are rather poor.
For example, number 7...
Which activities best fit with the Children's Motrin IB brand?
* crafts
* gardening
* cooking/baking
* home improvement/decorating
* household chores
* none of the above
The entire survey seems geared toward brand damage control rather than truly gaining consumer insight. A PDF (224k) of the survey is available here.
I complete the survey, and (finally!) I am directed to the content:
STEP THREE: THE CONTENT
A full-sized screen snap of this page is available here.
On first impression, this microsite is poorly designed, hard to read and dare I say BORING. It completely lacks the sense of style and craftsmanship of Martha.
This project is supposed to be #4 in a series, but there is no sign of the other content above the fold, so I go exploring.
The first link I find is the survey link, and I've just come from there.
The second link set I find is for some Martha Stewart content that seems unrelated to the Family Muscle series.
The third set of links are for some online video clips, and given that today is May 20th and the video was from Valentine's Day I did not find it to be overly helpful.
Finally... the fourth set of links a whopping 827 pixels down the screen hold the navigation I was looking for. (See the green square above).
Keep in mind that the average user isn't going to treasure hunt the way I did. They would have given up much sooner. So while Motrin probably paid big bucks to sponsor this Martha content, they probably aren't getting full value from that spend.
Bottom line... Thumbs down for both teams who are smart enough and experienced enough to know better.
The design and execution were amateur and sloppy, with no regard for the user experience.
