‘Search for…’ Partcipating with advertising

^ Orange “i am” ads

^ Call to action close up

The recent Orange campaign had the unusual call to action of prompting the reader to search for “I am.” This was interesting for three reasons. Magical. Firstly that it marked an evolution from the days when web links first appeared. I remember marketing departments getting concerned whether to include the WWW in the link. Will it work? Will people understand? And sure enough the WWW’s gradually disappeared. People still got it and browsers resolved the URL.

Secondly that it necessitates that the SEO development team optimise the Orange content so that it appears when someone follows the advert direction or else pay for Ad Words which guarantee visibility. The latter  seems unnecessarily expensive as the more successful the campaign call to action, the more Ad Words need to be bought.

Thirdly, it seems to me that the strategy has less to do with technicality than psychological persuasion. By asking people to type the campaign line into a search engine subconsciously reinforces the central thought “I am” through repetition and active sifting through the results to find the Orange result. A successful searcher not only gets the information but is an active participant in the discovery giving them a greater sense of ownership and engagement. They won the treasure hunt. Hurrah, winning feels good. Campaign WIN.

The unsuccessful searcher still engages with the brand and message and is likely to re-search however there is risk that the searcher doesn’t get the payoff, feels irritated and goes elsewhere. Campaign FAIL.