Last month, a video went viral online showing Wheat Thins dropping off a pallet of their product to a customer. The reason? Tabitha Hancock (@fox_girl313) tweeted, “AAAHHH Im outta wheat thins… Mi life is officially over,” because she had run out of the tasty snacks. The brand decided to track her down and make sure she had enough crackers to last her a very long time. Skeptics thought the stunt was staged, like many viral video attempts, but it turns out that the woman in the video really had no idea what was going on.
“Brand ambushing” is seen as a way to cut through the clutter of advertising and shock consumers, and the practice has been used by other brands like Domino’s, which tracked down naysayers and had them taste their new and improved pizza. It works because it’s unusual, it creates a scene, and it really is surprising.
As “brand ambushing” becomes more popular, it’s beginning to show Gen Y that the brands are listening to us. We just want to be heard. Gen Y uses a number of different channels just to have a voice; we tweet, text, blog, IM, comment, and “Like” things on Facebook because we expect someone to listen. Wheat Thins listened; they saw a message that could be easily ignored, but they actually did something about it. When a company does respond, it says “we hear you, loud and clear!” It gives validation to our comments and proves that there are actual people behind the brands we buy. This responsiveness creates a personal connection between the brand and the consumer. As we learned from the response to the recent Old Spice social media campaign, we love when brands talk back to us.
Andy Warhol’s theory has never been more true: our generation wants fame. Because of YouTube, we all have a chance at our 15 minutes (or seconds) of fame. We want to stand out. Getting famous is easier than ever because of social media, and we’re ready for our time in the spotlight. Brands that use an ambushing technique tend to do it for advertising or publicity, which means that for a limited period of time, the person getting ambushed is famous, which resonates with our generation. Right now, the video of the Wheat Thins being delivered to Hancock has over 480,000 views.
Another positive aspect of ambushing is simple: free stuff. Getting something for free is guaranteed to appeal to Gen Y; a lot of us are coming out of college with huge amounts of debt during a recession and an awful job market. With a 17.8% unemployment rate for those of us aged 20-24 as of June 2010, any handout sounds stupendous. The benefit of giving away a few boxes of Wheat Thins (all the attention and brand awareness) far outweighs the cost.
Of course, being ambushed by a brand is a little creepy and has a “Big Brother” feel to it. Brand ambushing can seem invasive, and we feel like our privacy is being compromised. It is a little scary; Wheat Thins found out exactly where this woman lived using social media and the internet (and had some help from her Facebook friends). It’s a little unnerving, but I don’t think it’s a deal-breaker.
We’re accustomed to having less privacy. We still care, but I think we’ve grown used to being out in the open. We’re the generation that lets the internet know where we are just for fun, on Foursquare, and our use of social media is making our lives much more transparent.
I think the good outweighs the bad in “brand ambushing,” and it’s a great way to reach our generation because it is in-your-face, it cuts through the clutter, it lets us know that we’re being heard, and we get to be famous for just a little bit. So the next time you see a Wheat Thins truck pulling into your driveway, don’t be angry or afraid. Just be hungry!
