Campaign Trail is our evaluation of a few of the very best latest creative efforts from the marketing world. View past columns within the archives here.
For marketers to, as the traditional wisdom goes, move on the speed of culture, they need to be embedded within the dirt of social media, in contact with grassroots developments and prepared to scale organizational branches. Doing so can allow ideas to bear fruit, as in the newest campaign from Miracle-Gro, which inspires consumers to embrace the concept of a “Full Bush Summer.”
As with almost every contemporary trend, “full bush in a bikini” kicked off with a video on TikTok that now has over 17 million views. That direct, body-positive sentiment about pubic hair has since spread across social and traditional media, showing up in Vogue, Glamour and Women’s Health. It also caught the attention of The Martin Agency, which serves as Miracle-Gro’s creative agency of record.
“There wasn’t [a brief] — this was a fully proactive idea from The Martin Agency team,” said Nadezhda Camperlengo, vp at head of social on the agency. “They brought it to me, and I used to be like, ‘This is greater than one post. This is greater than simply a social moment. This is greater than simply one element.’”
The campaign, which is able to run across organic and paid social with digital banner placements, merchandise giveaways and an influencer partnership, is the variety of lightning-in-a-bottle moment that marketers are all the time looking to capture — even once they include possible brand safety concerns.
“Obviously, this idea is a bit edgy, however it is actually true to our roots and our brand purpose, which is encouraging growth, empowerment and self-expression through gardening,” said Sadie Oldham, vp and head of gardens at the corporate. “While it was playful, the message was sincere in that Miracle-Gro supports healthy growth, nevertheless which may look to you.”
Growing an ecosystem
While the “full bush” idea had a clever connection to Miracle-Gro’s purpose and products, it might need to be greater than just an ephemeral trend or TikTok format for the Martin Agency to craft a durable brand campaign around it. But beyond the pun, the agency found a resonant brand truth within the moment.
“This is a return to natural beauty and self-expression. It’s a larger cultural phenomenon… there’s longevity to that,” Camperleng explained. “The conversation itself is way greater than a TikTok and way greater than a hashtag.”
Camperlengo quickly reached out to folks throughout the agency and encouraged them to embrace blue sky considering as they generated every idea they may across the concept, knowing that Miracle-Gro has pushed the agency to be creative and embrace the uncomfortable.
“It was truly like a author’s room variety of vibe, of how we built this ecosystem as a team, but we knew that beyond TikTok, that is a human truth and experience that we wanted to hit from as many designs as possible,” Camperlengo said.
@miraclegro we’re declaring it’s officially #FullBushSummer with @Gabby ♬ original sound – Miracle-Gro
For Miracle-Gro, the campaign represented a way to speak to the young consumers who’re latest to the gardening category and likewise highly engaged online.
“We felt the spark. it was unexpected. It felt culturally relevant. It aligned with how our consumers are engaging… They don’t take themselves too seriously. They are confident in themselves and their abilities, they usually really identical to to express themselves,” Oldham said.
‘Millennial Jennifer Coolidge’
As with any socially inspired campaign, “Full Bush Summer” needed the precise influencer partner to make the creative connect with consumers. The Martin Agency scored their top pick for the hassle in Gabby Windey, a celebrity known for her appearances on reality and competition hits including “The Bachelor,” “The Bachelorette,” “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Traitors.”
“She had so many cultural touch points,” Camperlengo said. “She’s incredibly clever, but very dry, and her comedic timing is so unique, like a millennial Jennifer Coolidge.”
Windey can also be a growing personality on TikTok and within the podcast space, and her balance of tongue-in-cheek comedy and a give attention to grounded self-affirmation made her a good fit for “Full Bush Summer.”
“We didn’t want this campaign to be slapstick or crude, we wanted it to be clever and tight. She stood for those things as well as to just being herself and all the time standing for self-expression,” Camperlengo said.
Along with Windey’s content, banner placements across Amazon and other social media elements, the campaign also features baby tees emblazoned with the tagline, “Nobody knows I’m growing a full bush rn” — one other example of how the hassle jumps on one other trend that has hit the pages of Vogue.
“To be connected to culture, you would like to show up in places where people experience cultures,” Oldham said. “We cannot wait to proceed to explore other fun and kitschy ways to surprise and delight our audiences with funny campaigns like this.”
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