Ad Tactics from Japan: Tissue Flyers
What is the best way to prevent people from throwing your flyers seconds after you’ve handed it out to them? Give them something they need — tissue wipes! These tissue paper packets that my friend brought back from Tokyo have advertising content either printed directly onto the plastic wrapping or come with a printed flyer insert placed at the base of the packet below the stack of tissue wipes.
YOUR AUDIENCE, THE RECEIVER
Consider the fact that every time someone takes out the tissue pack to get a sheet or two to use, they are exposed to the ad again and again until they finish using the tissues. Based on common sense, most people will keep these tissue packets for as long as there are still clean sheets of tissues in there that haven’t been used yet. On a subliminal level these ads are presented to the naked eye as it navigates through to find the opening of the packet. The ad presentation process is cleverly placed within the natural engagement process of a person getting a sheet of tissue. On an attentive level, people who are inquisitive would naturally let their eyes roam and analyze the literature of the products they interact with, thus allowing you that opening to send your message across.
SECONDARY ATTENTION, THE RECEIVER’S IMMEDIATE NETWORK
Here’s another possible scenario. If a tissue pack makes it around a post-meal table, other people are also exposed to these ads. I imagine some of the more attractive and creative ads would act as conversation triggers, and what better way to get people to talk about your products, services, and brand. What a smart, cost-effective, and practical way to advertise!
There are many other scenarios where such a tissue flyer may work very well for some. Everyone needs to wipe their mouths, sweat, and goo off of their faces and skin. Why haven’t western businesses caught on to this yet? I’m just waiting to see the western world get creative and adopt this smart little tactic to communicate their products and services to an audience that are just waiting to hoard some free packets of tissue paper for daily use.
COMPELLING AVENUE OF OPPORTUNITY
But of course, I would not bother discussing this little-known avenue if I did not believe there is a compelling potential for success behind it. I do however believe marketing has to be relevant or it is akin to flushing your money down the toilet. Retailers and restaurants will probably benefit from the tissue flyer the most because of its relevance. People need to wipe after they eat, mothers need to wipe their babies constantly, and women need to soak oil off of their t-zone, and people generally need tissue paper to maintain personal hygiene.
LIFE, INTERCEPTED
In any economic climate (not limited to a recessive or depressive one) businesses have to be creative and work smart to avoid sinking. That acumen should reach a breadth that is not confined to a design canvas alone. Businesses need to seek ways to appeal to an audience that are more resistant to traditional advertising, and a very controversial but promising place to start is to embrace the way of life of your target audience. By intercepting the process in which they carry out the necessary steps to complete a task, you have automatically created an awareness of your message, however effective. In the case of the tissue flyer, the goal for the user is to remove a lingering discomfort by way of drying and cleaning the body and its immediate environment of undesired particles. In order to execute that task successfully, people would need to look at the tissue wrapper’s surface to find the opening in order to reach the holy whiteness of a solution to their problems, which is tucked inside the glory that is your ad message.
I think it is an absolutely brilliant idea. What do you think?
All Set Up and Ready To Build
Whaddya know… I have gone against my usual tendency to analyze something to death before making a move and decided to go for a buzzed up domain name after all. I’m going to trust my instincts on this one… the url will be revealed when the site is launched. It was the fastest decision I have ever made about a web project. From the time I checked the availability of the name to the time I got the hosting server up and running took approximately two hours. I even managed to get Wordpress set up and migrated my Blogger content over to the new server in that time. It will take about 2 weeks to get the website ready for showtime. Meanwhile, I’ll still be blogging here.
Blog Plans
So it’s about midnight on a Sunday morning. Some people may be boozing themselves to the moon, loving it up on soft surfaces, or maybe snoring away but I, having been beaten by the 2.0 bug am keeping my eyelids open with the help of invisible toothpicks. Although I am physically shattered, I am driven to share some developments with you before I hit they hay.
I’ve decided to move this blog to a hosted space running WordPress. This will happen sometime in the beginning of next week. I’ve also decided not to use my existing domain and get a new one. I have a few likely contenders, but am not entirely convinced that I should go for a domain name with buzz-appeal because buzzes expire.
So the search for the right concept continues…
Who?
JACQUELINE MIAO
Web Strategist
PRINCE2 Project Manager
Location: London, U.K.-
