Two British institutions were in the media this week: the monarchy, with the birth of Prince George of Cambridge; and the Church of England, with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s support for credit unions and his challenge to payday loan companies.
And two organisations were quick to exploit the marketing opportunities these events presented. One was the Asda supermarket chain, with this advert (left) for its George of Asda clothing line.
The other was Wonga, the payday loan company named (but apparently not shamed) by the Archbishop. Wonga was quick to respond to criticism of its exorbitant interest rates with an ad featuring its “Ten Commitments” and stating that “Credit unions have an important role to play too and we welcome debate around the most customer-friendly and responsible ways to meet people’s needs”.
Given that George was high on the list of possible royal names, I reckon Asda had their campaign ready and waiting. Wonga, however, was pretty quick off the mark with its damage-limitation response.
A marketing lesson for small businesses
It strikes me that there’s a marketing lesson here for small businesses. Is there a newsletter, blog-post or even a tweet that we could prepare in advance for some forthcoming event?
Translators, for example, could prepare material to coincide with their “language countries'” national days, festivals or feast days. Or a post featuring electoral terminology or procedures, say, to coincide with elections in your country.
Have you ever produced an event-related post or newsletter that tied in nicely with your business? Let us know in the comments!
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By Marian Dougan