American lighter brand Zippo has created a new brand ambassador Jax ‘No Pain’ McFlame to front its global integrated campaign #ShareThePain which taps into consumers’ expected sense of loss when they lose their beloved Zippo.
The campaign, created with DeVries SLAM, is based on research of the brand’s target 18 to 24-year-old male audience who, according to Zippo global brand manager Brent Tyler, have been “lamenting the loss of Zippo lighters” on social media and takes its cue from the popular Old Spice online content which targeted a similar youth market.
Speaking with The Drum, Tyler explained: “We’ve done a lot of research into the habits of our consumers and we know that they’re using social media, not only to interact with one another but to interact with brands…our 18 to 24-year-old male target audience are millenials and they live online, it’s the place where you can find them and probably where they are more comfortable engaging with brands. “It’s an opportunity to have a dialogue within the biggest stadium in the world, you can have a one-on-one conversation but the whole world can see it at the same time. It [social] gives us the ability to conduct consumer relations on steroids almost.” Using the Jax McFlame character Zippo is planning to interact with its consumers providing personalised responses and words of wisdom to help Zippo fans cope with their loss. Encouraging fans to share their tales of woe with the #ShareThePain hashtag for the chance to hear back from Jax.
“We know these folks want to be famous, even if it is just for five seconds. When you’re a company with a large audience and you can mention people by name it makes them feel more important, even if it is just for a fleeting moment,” said Tyler of the personalisation aspect which has sprung up recently in a number of campaigns, including Coca-Cola’s 'Share a Coke' named bottles and Three’s customised video messages customers announcing the launch of 4G in their area. “If somebody thinks a brand is talking directly with them, we think that’s the first step, or maybe one of the steps, in a lifelong bond with consumers,” he added. Launched earlier this month the #ShareThePain initiative is now fast approaching a crescendo in which a twist in the character’s dialogue with consumers is promised. At the moment fans can turn to Jax for words of encouragement on the Share the Pain website where typing in a lost item will generate a video response from the character. Of the character, Tyler said: “We think he will appeal to that young adult, he’s laughable at times but he can also be very sincere. He's an all-American guy and being an American company we thought he was a good fit. For us it's a unique and interesting way to connect with our audience.”
#ShareThePain is to run in a total of nine markets, including the UK, USA, Germany and Hong Kong, across all social media platforms such as Twitter, Weibo, Facebook, and YouTube, and will host Jax McFlame and consumer-generated content.
