Commentary
"Get Hybrid: The Mattress Rap Song" is Good, But Pointless
- by Larry Dobrow , Featured Columnist, July 12, 2012
As consumers of Internet marketing dreck, we've reached a point where, at least in theory, nothing sounds too stupid or outlandish. Save for peppering their videos with saucy jokes about the prophet Muhammad, marketers can only do so much to provoke a reaction. Collectively, we might have passed the point of jadedness saturation; if we expended a smirk on every piece of content that merited one, our faces would be creased like an envelope.
Case in point: "Get Hybrid: The Mattress Rap Song." 'Twas a time where a title of that ilk would prompt a wave of mockery, even before the clip received its token courtesy view. Now, it's like, "Oh, an obscure maker of mattress coils has hired the Second City folks to create a rap-video satire designed to… um, to promote their Hybrid line of mattress coils to mattress manufacturers whose mattress-coil needs aren't being met, I think? That makes perfect sense."
But here's the thing: It doesn't. As parody, "Get Hybrid" is keenly observed, amplifying the hip-hop genre's every inanity (the transparent bluster, the all-white wardrobes, etc.). The lyrics take their share of witty turns ("If you want somebody to get in your vicinity/You prollly wanna feel a little bit of our hybridity"). With a catchy melodic hook in the chorus, the song wouldn't sound out of place on urban-leaning radio stations. This is an impeccably crafted piece of work, assembled by people with obvious talent. Seriously. "Get Hybrid" is really, really effin' good.
And it's also pointless, unless business-to-business mattress industry players (excuse me - "playaz") are as easily motivated and entertained as teenage girls. I'll allow that my mattress experience is limited to reclining on them, but I can't see what a "sleep technology leader" (quoth the press release) like Leggett & Platt has to gain by wading into the viral ocean.
For one thing, it's not a consumer-facing operation, at least not to the 99.999999 percent of the population that doesn't geek out over commercial fixturing and components. Similarly, the company doesn't appear to have a hot new product that demands the sort of attention a viral-minded clip can bring. As for the L&P brand, well, if it's associated with anything beyond meat-and-potatoes competence and trustworthiness, there's no evidence of it anywhere on the web.
I don't know what else to say, really. I try not to ascribe motives to people other than myself and the cast of "Celebrity Rehab," but maybe this is one of those stodgy-company-attempts-not-to-be-stodgy-anymore situations? Maybe Old Man Leggett decided to flash up a site on the Internet web and go viral with some of that hippety-hop that the kids are all listening to, perhaps to get people to stop calling him "Old Man Leggett"? I dunno. I can't make any sense of this thing.
I'll say this, though. I want to meet the Second City Communications salesperson who convinced a staid bedding-components manufacturer to invest in a clip that was clearly expensive to produce. That's the guy or gal we should all want in our marketing/branding foxholes.
Larry Dobrow is a contributing writer for MediaPost. Reach him at LDobrow@gmail.com.
I get what you're saying. And I, too, want to meet the SCC sales team on this, as well as the on- and offscreen talent. This is so good it hurts.
But ... pointless? I dunno. I kind of think this is so well-done -- so smart, combining gentle satire with reverence for the idiom, so wholesomely self conscious ("... And we just killed a song about mattresses!"), so funny-without-trying-too-hard, and actually danceable, to boot, that it may let these people jump a couple of sharks, and in the process, do _exactly what viral video is supposed to do for marketers_.
Think about the challenges this overcomes. Leggett&Platt's salespeople doubtless exist in a soul-destroying round of monthlies with the same people they've been meeting with for the past N years - no doubt broken up a couple times a year by three-days and booth duty at the sleep industry's big tradeshows, where they're blowing a few million a year to maintain a very small number of relationships.
They have no consumer pull-through at all. No traction as innovators. They don't sell through direct. The people they usually talk to just gist the first slide of the presentation and ask the 50m price. And on top of all this, I expect the Chinese probably know how to make hybrid-coil mattresses with Visco foam tops too, right?
So with this piece, they've managed to create possibly the first marcomm unit in history capable of TOTALLY-engaging a buyer or a consumer in hearing the full story of a "mattress tech" innovation over almost three minutes of real time. We've all bought mattresses, and we have a feel for the engagement heretofore possible in this space, right? This is a "one wordy diagram plus a brand name ending in -Pedic or -Comfort" model (think Sealy). No innovation since about 1962, right? So ... right there, they've revolutionized their industry. They've introduced a new way of talking about mattresses that really works, that isn't desexualized, that isn't talking to grandpa, that at least covertly acknowledges that mattresses are sometimes used for things other than sleeping.
Now think of this playing on giant screens at the ISPA (International Sleep Products Association) show next March in Florida, after burning around the industry -- and maybe actually going global -- for the next seven months. Could be big for them.
And if this actually gets attention from consumers, it changes the game again, right? L&P -- a back-end supplier -- is now right up there as a recognizable name with a recognizable technology, adding value to a mattress purchase. They could end up a majorly-recognizable brand from this one effort, without spending bazillions on regional late-night TV, in-store placards and bribes, or however value is traditionally asserted in their industry.
So I dunno. Old Man Leggett may be hipper than you think.
John - Great analysis... Thanks for your comments. I was viewing the promo solely as a potential consumer, without taking into account the realities of their B2B market...
I am one of the three guys at Leggett and Platt that put this video together, along with Second City Communication. John thanks for your comments, you completely get it. Larry, thanks for the criticism, we want to hear it all. Consider that our strategy was to address the B2B audience and had absolutely nothing to do with the consumer. (However, we think it has legs if it leaks into that segment.) With people being hit with so much crap today, we wanted to do something that would break through, interrupt a persons day with something that would surprise them, communicate our message in a way that people are going to remember, and start a conversation. We did all of these things, and based on the reaction of the people in our industry it has been a great success for us. Many are using the hybrid term that were not before and the conversations that have taken place with customers would have never had happened.
There is now way we could have come this far on the project by simply running some print ads about how great our coils are.
Things have gone so well we have our customers, the bedding manufactures, and THEIR customers the retailers, are asking us for the content to share on their websites and in their stores. I would say that is a home run. The metrics for success included # of views (which keep in mind, in a B2B environment do not mirror what we expect from consumer), the quality and amount of conversation in our social media platforms, adaption of the term hybrid, and reaction from our customers. On every level we have exceeded expectations and now are getting some interest from the consumer market because the quality of the content is what it needs to be for that to happen.
This was not a components manufacturer trying to hard, it was a company that understands that in today's world, content is king and if you are going to get people to pay attention to what you are saying you need to be creative. Product placement built inside of fun/memorable content is a good strategy and it is working.
Second City did not SELL us, we came to them and I am glad we did. We got exactly what we expected from them and were smart enough to set the bar high for them and get out of the way so they could fly over it.
And PS...the Comfort Core product that we are promoting is way up over last year and is trending so well we are breaking sales records with it every day. Isn't that the ultimate measure?
Thanks for your kind words about our work at Second City Communications. We agree with you wholeheartedly. As Mark Quinn from Leggett & Platt mentions, this project has exceeded expectations, precisely because it was unconventional. We couldn’t be happier for L&P’s success, because they had the insight and conviction to try a new approach, and killed it.
A couple other points we’ve gleaned from creating branded content for B2B and B2C clients, and from our 53-year history as an improv comedy theatre:
• Things are funny when they're true, so you need to find what's true to whatever audience you're reaching, mass or niche. To paraphrase the late, great Tip O'Neill, all comedy is local, and all that matters is if the intended audience gets the gag and makes the connection
• "Viral" is a lame term, but to the extent it is used, it means different things to different businesses. Viral is NOT synonymous with "mass" or "consumer." When we do consumer branded content work, sure, we generally want lots of views and attention. But, if you're selling high end medical equipment (as one of our clients does) success is finding a way to reach the small audience of 10,000 buyers who can buy your stuff...in that scenario, reaching and persuading 1,000 prospects is a stunning, "viral" win
• B2B marketing doesn't have to suck and it shouldn't be held hostage to the trade marketing playbook from 1971. Why? Because people are people, no matter what they sell or buy, and it's always wise to reach them with the language, media and tone that ring true to their lives. In other words, people selling mattresses like to laugh and listen to music, too.
Again, thanks for your interest in this project and for starting a productive conversation on an emerging topic...