The Harry Situation - A Garnier Campaign

L'Oréal started an online marketing campaign for its new line of hair-care products called Garnier Fructis Style Bold It, aimed at men aged 18 to 34. The viral campaign launched with the help of Avenue A | Razorfish, is a spoof on more traditional branded advertising. It includes a website, a blog and video clips. The campaign is presented to consumers as if Garnier partnered with a broadcasting network to produce a sit-com "The Harry Situation" in the style of Three's Company. Pilot episodes were produced and published on the website. And as a part of the spoof, the producer then went onto cancel the show because he was upset with the heavy handed product placements. 

So here's what I think can make the campaign a success - the fact that its a parody on traditional marketing. We're sick and tired of ostentatious product placements and large brands trying too hard to be cool. This is an example of a company that's saying lets take a risk, do something that's a parody of ourselves and be risque in a way that we've never been. Just take a look at the actual pilot episodes to see what I mean by risque.

At the same time, there a few things that can endanger a marketing campaign of this type. The first is if it is over-planned. I was surprised to read in a New York Times article how many blog posts, video clips and photographs were planned. Even if the campaign is a spoof, I'd encourage the marketers to allow for more spontaneity or at least create that appearance. Don't tell us how many blog posts are planned. Along those lines, I'd encourage the team to use YouTube for its video clips on The Harry Situation website. I had to find those clips on YouTube so that I could embed one here. This makes the viral marketing harder.



The campaign also raises an interesting question. How honest do you really need to be with the consumers when you're entertaining them and cracking jokes? My opinion - you should have a longer leash when you're blurring the lines between marketing and entertainment. But then again, I belong to the company that created this campaign. Maybe I am biased.