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Rosetta Stone’s Hot Chicks Bridge Language Gap
You’re in the Big City rushing to your next appointment. Suddenly this exotic woman in a 
sundress stops you and asks . . . you have no idea what language she’s speaking — but she’s clearly into you and flirting to beat the band.
<Big grin> No Problemo.
You can’t understand a word, but dah-mn! . . . she’s smokin’, it sounds good . . . but you have no clue what she’s actually saying.
Big Problemo.
Dazed and a bit desperate, you try to figure out any way to resolve this and get you both on the same page. You want to at least get her phone number before she saunters off.
Finally she hands you her card. But it’s in . . . what language is that, Arabic? French? Farsi?
You flip it over . . . surprise — this side is in English, “I’m so sorry we couldn’t connect.” (as if to say, ‘If only we spoke the same language, I’d be totally into you.’)
What just happened here?
Brilliant marketing, that’s what. Courtesy of one of the best language instruction programs in the world, Rosetta Stone. With marketing every bit as innovative as the product, they highlighted how hard it is to make a love connection when you don’t speak the language.
Brilliant (did I say that already?).
You see, last month, over the course of four days, fifteen teams of bilingual male and female “brand ambassadors” visited high-traffic areas throughout NYC, initiating playful pick-up scenarios with more than 19,000 surprised consumers.
After their shock wore off, they could see the English side of the card also contained an invitation to a one-week free trail of the software.
I don’t have the stats on the effectiveness of Rosetta’s guerilla marketing campaign, but I bet they did very well with it. Why? Because it effectively leveraged one of the most proven and time-honored marketing and copywriting principles — show, don’t tell.
Pamela Mulder, Rosetta Stone’s VP of Brand Marketing had this to say about the campaign:
“When you think of traditional guerrilla marketing, typically you see the fliers end up on the ground and in the trash. The whole reason to do this was to do something different —something memorable that’s directly tied to the brand and that really brings it to life.”
Now, because I’m in the industry, I have to be fair. The high-fives for this innovative campaign are only half Rosetta Stone’s. The other half was the marketing firm that put it together, RedPeg Marketing based in Alexandria, VA.
The campaign was supported by print ads in local newspapers, including an ad in the New York Times on the day the program launched.
Mulder plans to do a follow-up campaign and to offer special incentives to consumers who received the offer, then took the time to give the free trial a whirl.
Did everyone catch that? It wasn’t a one-time marketing tactic, but part of a larger campaign that involves following-up with those who identified themselves as a hot lead because they ‘raised their hand.’
So . . . how’s your marketing? Is it brilliantly out-of-the-box like Rosetta Stone’s? If not, in how many ways could you improve it to make it so? Whatever brilliant strategy you’re using or (now) plan to use, did you build in the all-important follow-up?
Your customers, you clients are waiting.
By Walter |
Topics: Client Top Secret, Pro Analysis |
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