Super smart or super stupid? Super Liquor and Tangible launch unorthodox new brand-funded website
Anyone who’s had the pleasure of working on a custom publication will understand there are certain promotional objectives that usually need to be met and plenty of hoops that need to be jumped through in an effort to please the client. But Super Liquor has taken a rather unique approach to this concept with its latest marketing initiative, a website called Super 10 that has been created in conjunction with Tangible Media and &Some over several months and aims to “save the world from work” with ten weekly nuggets of online interestingness.
Unusually for customer publications, while it is funded entirely by Super Liquor, it is a pure editorial proposition where “rampant stupidity meets anti-establishment meets good clean fun” and chief operating officer Martin Bremner says editor Gena Tuffery has been left entirely to her own devices.
In the world of old marketing, this would probably be seen as a foolish strategy because there’s no direct sales proposition and, at this stage, no specific audience. The modern world is basically the reverse of how things used to be done, however, because brands struggle to buy attention and increasingly need to earn it online. As such, Super Liquor has decided to bask in the reflected glow of fun and entertainment (which are already key concepts in its marketing) instead of bashing people over the head with its commercial messages.
Bremner says Super Liquor sees itself largely as a marketing company and its major goal is to “connect with an audience”. For some audiences, he says the best way to do this is through an ad in the paper, while for others it’s by sticking a logo on the hoardings.
With Super 10, however, instead of relying on someone else’s audience, the big idea is to create a new community by funding content that’s interesting and, for consumers who are seemingly always on the hunt for things to do and share online, potentially valuable. Then, when the audience arrives, they’ll be in the firing line of the promotions from Super Liquor or the other alcohol brands that might feature on the site in the future.
‘Tis an interesting experiment. And, with the continuing rise of social media, perhaps a sign of things to come.
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Dave
July 11, 2011
Super stupid. If it's content reliant, content has to be awesome. Fail.