Notes and Thoughts on Grocery 2.0

In a recently launched campaign created by McCann Erickson, Dentyne Gum urges viewers to “Make face time” by replacing online social activities with personal interactions. The advertiser links kissing with instant messaging, hugging with accepting a friend request, whispering with leaving a voicemail and other commonplace activities with those personal ones we supposedly do less of because of our addiction to technology. I love this campaign for its ingenuity, creative copy and relevance. But there’s a catch.

Dentyne’s campaign centers on a website, www.makefacetime.com.

Wait a second…Dentyne created a brilliant campaign to remind its core teenage audience that personal interactions cannot be duplicated online, yet they are hoping that it is being online that forces their target to interact with the brand? Talk about irony.

In a New York Times article discussing the advertiser’s strategy, Craig Markus, Executive Vice President and Executive Creative Director at McCann Erickson, acknowledges the disconnect. “There was a real paradox in that we want to have an online presence, but wait a second, we’re telling people not to be online. That’s where we came up with the idea of the three-minute web site.”

The site, unveiled last Monday, opens with a warning that in three minutes, the site will shut down. Messaging appears telling readers, “When people are surfing the Web, they’re missing the best part of life – being together.”

But having a self-destructing website doesn’t mean much since it’s still a website. And one which Dentyne hopes many young adults will frequent.

Zeynep Tufeki, a sociologist at the University of Maryland, says “This is a false dichotomy.” Tufeki, who studies the way teenagers use technology to socialize, says her research shows that the exact people Dentyne wishes to target are most likely going online to increase social interaction, update personal information and connect with friends. “In fact, they’re checking out these sites in the hopes that sooner or later it will end up in a hug or kiss,” she says.

It seems as if Dentyne’s messaging should read, “When people are surfing the web, they’re getting ready to enjoy the best part of life – being together.”

What do you think?

Rachel