When I was first learning my trade, it was all about clipping coupons and calling freefone numbers. Not now, of course. Every few months, it seems, we invent new ways for the individual consumer to connect with a brand.
Text. Email. Blogs. Forums. Facebook. Twitter. QR codes. This is all seen to be A Good Thing. But there must be limits to how much and how often we want a "dialogue" with what is, let’s face it, a non-person.
Apologies for stating the bleeding obvious, but there is and always has been a fundamental difference between the real, real-time friendly chat with, for example, the guy at the deli counter, and the stuff marketers currently refer to as "engagement".
All of this was brought to mind when I picked up a new product from Innocent at my local supermarket. It’s a 900ml bottle of orange juice. Not made from concentrate. There really isn’t much more to say about it. I promise you.
Innocent has given the bottle a quirky shape so that they can call it a "carafe". And as you’d expect from the Innocent brand, there are the usual heartfelt reassurances that you’re not destroying the planet while quaffing fruit juice with your full English.
So far, no argument. But then, under the copy about ingredients and nutrition, I came across this: "Want to talk about oranges?" Apparently, you can ring, email or pop round to Fruit Towers, W6. As my daughter might exclaim, WTF?
Do I want to talk about oranges? Er... no. I may be, a) a bit of a foody, and b) have the occasional idle moment. But I’m never THAT short of conversation or ways to employ my brain. (It’s sad enough, frankly, that as a meejaholic I read the Innocent packaging in the first place.)
Innocent’s call to action is almost "reductio ad absurdum". The principle – encouraging consumers to interact with brands – may be sound. But this application of it is ridiculous.
I’ll take it all back if Innocent can say that their phones are melting thanks to incoming from garrulous fruitarians. In the meantime, may I humbly suggest that just because you CAN do something doesn’t always mean that you SHOULD.