Virality Does Not Ensure Revenue Without Strategy

Virality should always been seen as a lucky helper to your strategy, but your strategy should not depend on it. Solo Stove’s Snoop Dogg spot didn’t increase sales, and the company parted ways with its CEO. The company felt its marketing campaigns increased brand awareness but “fell short of the anticipated sales boost”. Everyone loved it. It brought the brand to a wider audience, and the execution of the ad was brilliant. However, with companies downsizing for cost-savings, taking action with layoffs and office closures, marketing campaigns now require a strong ROI. The team at Solo Stove wanted to reach a new audience of consumers and see a sales lift from the one ad, and that’s where it went wrong.

Always develop strategies that send all the new awareness down the sales funnel.

The spot happened, and there was almost no relationship building around it. It should go without saying that brand awareness campaigns have a longer-term conversion cycle. New products, behind-the-scenes content, and brand ambassadors should have surrounded the virality of this content to truly amplify the brand. Thinking about collaborations like Spike Lee x Absolut where there was an ode to NYC to boost the story, or Topicals x Teyana Taylor which included a meet & greet at the retailer, there are ways to truly amplify a collaboration.

Collaborations should feel authentic. This one felt like it was done for the sake of the joke, but not the authenticity of the brand.

The celebrity was right for the joke, but the joke was wrong for the brand. Just because the copy might be great, you have to remember who you’re talking to. That appreciation for the content did not extend to the product, and the disconnect is now evident. The attempts to appear cool, modern, relevant, can do exactly the opposite if the content is off-brand. There should be immediate drive through the sales funnel and relationship building after gaining the awareness in order to transition that awareness into brand love and appreciation, ultimately leading to sales.

What should have happened?

The brand should have built a strategy to extend the newfound awareness to sales. An activation to bond over this appreciation would build community, resonating with the new audience and showing them the product in action to build that relationship beyond the awareness. “Bonfires” across the country with merch giveaways is the simplest way that the team could have had people experience the true smokeless innovation of a Solo Stove and given incentives to purchase the product and learned more about the audience. The CTA should have directed to a mailing list - simple, but effective - which could have brought the relationship outside of that ad and helped the team have more digital access to this new audience segment, making it easier to push sales.

Marketing is sure to change this year as companies are looking to spend less and increase margins. I’m excited for the strategies and creativity that will come from this, and looking forward to Solo Stove’s future marketing efforts.