Should I try some controversial advertising?

I have a small personal care brand. The brand brings fun and irreverence into a category that was a little staid. I don’t have much money to promote the brand but was thinking of some very controversial press ads in a niche magazine I know my audience would read. What do you think?

I think not.  When was the last time you talked about a press ad?

If you want to get people talking about your brand – and that’s a very good idea – then you should communicate to them in channels where it’s easy to talk to each other.

Take the same concept and put it in an online environment, that way people can more easily pass it on from one person to the next. Better yet, put it into social media.

If the concept is truly controversial, then send a copy to journalists, or tweet them directly. At Naked Communications we believe the consumer is the departure point, not end point for all communications.

Therefore, you want to not only give them something to talk about, but give it to them within a context that makes talking about it easy.

Also, if you are going to do this, you may want to map out a year’s worth of activity so that you can build on ideas that grab the attention, and move onto the next thing if it doesn’t.

Your out of pocket costs will be lower doing this style of communications in the digital environment. However, because it’s not ‘set and forget’ and needs constant monitoring, you may end up needing to use more internal resources to make it happen. Something to think about.