Erica Kennedy aka Feminista got my attention today with a post alerting me to Calvin Klein spots promoting men's um, wares. Have you seen these just-this-side-of NSFW promos for their new X line of men's briefs? "Oh my!" said the woman in her 60's sitting next to me in a seminar, when I unsuspectingly clicked on "play" (using earphones of course.) I was afraid I'd offended. Au contraire. "I'm having a hot flash," the woman grinned, fanning her shirt. Oh, yea, those Calvin Kleiners are smart. They know their target--most buyers of men's underwear are women. And as Erica points out, footage is satisfying not only because it's sexy and fun and diversely delicious, but because it's welcome relief from inundation by images like this.
So, how come CK's marketing genius doesn't translate to their social media efforts? The CK spots heated up on youtube over a a month ago, yet the CK tweetstream hasn't even acknowledged them, preferring instead to share news like Ashley Olsen is wearing Calvin Klein in Korea.
It's an example of the most common corporate social media fail. When SM isn't integrated with current marketing efforts, instead of adding momentum to the advertising racehorse, it sits inert as the horn of a unicorn. Erica's already written off the unintegrated campaign as a fail, but I think there's opportunity for the brand to pull ahead if they get off their advertising high horse and turn their creative attention to social media. To know for sure, excuse me, I have to watch these commercials again.
