It may seem a bit unusual to hear a chief creative officer extol the virtues of paid search, but for Andreas Dahlqvist at Grey New York it’s “almost under-leveraged” for the purposes of promoting film content.
The agency leveraged this knowledge—and that of male search behavior—to inform its well-received Gillette commercial about reconnecting dads and sons on Father’s Day. Stating that 94% of teenagers seek out help on the Internet instead of asking their dads, the spot shows them entering search terms about cooking, fixing a flat tire and, yes, how to shave.
“We analyzed search behavior and the insight there is that pretty much every kid out there is turning to Google more than they do to their dads,” Dahlqvist says in an interview with Beet.TV. “We basically bought out all of the search terms around how-to videos. That’s a pretty interesting opportunity. I think search is to a certain extent almost under-leveraged as a medium when it comes to film content.”
One main benefit is that brands can serve up film that is not only relevant to what consumers are looking for but that co-mingles with their mindset. “It’s huge,” Dahlqvist says.
In his opinion, when it comes to marketing messages, “the shift is actually in favor of the consumer right now. The brands that care to listen the most will win.”
