an ad made me cry again

Hey,

Happy Mother's Day Sunday— if you're a mom, I hope this email isn't finding you at all. I hope you're sipping a mimosa on a porch, answering no questions.

I'll level with you, most Mother's Day marketing is... not my cup of whisky. It's all pastels and platitudes, devoid of empathy for real mothers or even a hint of soul.

But in a sea of garbage, you can always find a glint of goodness.

This week Ikea launched an ad campaign that made me stop and wish I’d been in the room where this message was born:

Ikea, Proudly Second Best

The campaign is a collaboration between Al-Futtaim IKEA, DAVID Madrid, and INGO Hamburg and it's brilliant.

Why does it work?

1. Humility

Humility isn't often a strategy employed in marketing. We want to position our product as the best option to solve our customer's problem. But sd every parent who has been nap trapped by a crib-resistant baby knows, an Ikea crib is absolutely not their first pick. This ad puts a spotlight on the customer and lets the product play a supporting role.

2. Empathy

No language model could have written this campaign— because AI can't pull human experiences into its answers. It works because it pulls at an experience that is both universal, intimately personal, and so powerful that it has people in tears.

3. Focus

This is an ad that directly focuses on parents. If you’re a parent, this ad hits right in the feels.

Which means there are potential customers Ikea is willing to alienate to fully connect with parents. Not everyone can identify with this specific experience— so some folks don't get it.

Remember, if your ad, copy, or campaign is trying to be for everyone— it will fail to connect with anyone. You have to pick one person, fully understand them, and create just for them.

So let's all go into this week focused on one customer— ready to bring humility and empathy to all the ways we talk to them.

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Key Learnings 🔑

Find out how Growclass alumni Hiba Amin turned an email oopsie into a brand advocate opportunity:

We sent out an email to 2.7 million people last week with a major writing error. 😬

For a company that's focused on helping people create great content with AI... it wasn't the best look.

So, my inbox got flooded with messages like:

😡 "Wow that's really disappointing for someone with a Head of Content title"

😡 "This isn't a good look for your brand"

😡 "Maybe you should use Copy.ai to proofread your work next time"

The reality is: People make mistakes, and that's okay. These things are going to happen, and all you can do is laugh about them.

Instead of sulking, I spent an hour responding to each individual and calling it like it is: Hey, we're human. These things are going to happen, but we're going to work on getting better and better each time.

A simple reply took some *pretty* angry people and immediately turned them into brand advocates. The messages turned from anger and judgement to:

🤩 Wow, thanks for responding. That means a lot!

🤩 I'm a content creator too! This happens all the time.

🤩 I didn't expect a response, but I really appreciate it! I love your brand.

Lesson being: If you're going to send people marketing emails... you better monitor the replies because these are really great opportunities to win customers over and over again and turn them into brand advocates. 🙌

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Tweet of the week 😂

No lies were told.

Source.