Hefty: Garbage Bags, Moms, and Marketing

If there’s anything I love, it’s sarcasm and the ironic use of lingo. Hefty—that’s right, the garbage bag company—has capitalized on both of these with its two most recent ad campaigns.

Though I suppose it’s simplistic of me to call Hefty a trash bag company. Their products also include food storage and disposable kitchen wear, and it’s of these forgotten products that we are reminded with this first video campaign.

Solo Cups? Bye Felicia.

The red Solo cup: icon of tailgates and house parties everywhere. Not one to wimp out, Hefty challenges Solo’s reign of partying with its own Hefty Ultimate Cup campaign.

With a tagline like “The cup that parties has hard as you do,” it’s no secret which audience the Hefty team is hoping to attract with their crack-resistant challenger to Solo cups. Soccer Mom-ish characters using more than enough 2015 slang juxtaposes the sort of person who diligently compares brands of disposable kitchen supplies with someone who just needs a vessel for their inebriation of choice. The most hilariously accurate description I saw for the stars of these videos was “Talbot in the streets, Forever 21 in the sheets.”

In other words: It’s just funny.

There’s so much slang in this and the two accompanying videos that even I had to look up a few terms on Urban Dictionary. It’s a goofy, share-worthy video that does just enough to bring attention to the product when it’s done poking fun to count as effective advertising.

Yet where goofiness sells one product, pointed sarcasm sells another.

#SaidNoSchoolEver

Unveiled just in time for back-to-school season, this ad partners Hefty with Box Tops for Education, which gives schools ten cents for every box top from participating products.

After pointing out the constant need plaguing schools, Hefty encourages you to buy their garbage bags if for no other reason than they are the only one that offers Box Tops.

When it comes down to it, it’s an incredibly good strategy. Garbage bag ads touting each brand’s strength/expandability/odor protection are old hat, and for the most part, anyone buying garbage bags has already made their brand choice. Yet with this ad Hefty gives a reason beyond waste management to use their product: raising money for your favorite school could be just as easy as opening a new box of Hefty garbage bags. Plus, the hashtag invites participation on Twitter. In the five days since the video's online debut there have been a few hundred mentions on Twitter, but I wouldn’t be surprised if memes spread in the coming weeks.

Hefty: No wimpy social media presence here.

Beyond these unique videos campaigns, I was surprised to find Hefty embracing social media with such creativity. Not only are its Facebook and Twitter accounts reasonably quick to respond to complaints, but the company also runs a Pinterest account called Kitchen Pitch-In. The page offers recipes and other kitchen tips with Hefty sealable baggies and other products never far from view. It’s practical marketing; you don’t have to use Hefty products for these recipes, but it’s implied that they might be best suited for the task.

All in all, Hefty has a good thing going with its social media, and especially with its two most recent campaigns. It’s a company that speaks to down-to-earth people in a way that makes sure the audience is in on the joke. If I could ask whoever is in charge of the Hefty social media campaign anything, I’d only wonder when the next installments of #PartyHardMoms and #SaidNoSchoolEver would grace my computer screen. I think they’re good ideas with a bit of staying power if the minds behind them can come up with different takes on the same theme.

A Brief Word on Marketing

As my summer class about social media marketing is winding down, looking at a company’s recent social media campaign allows for a bit of review. These ads have a comedic value that makes them easy to share, but the #SaidNoSchoolEver campaign in particular takes great advantage of the idea of triggers. Back-to-school season means parents are bombarded with their children’s needs and other concerns about their education. Supplies shopping, parent-teacher meetings, other Box Top labels on other products and even taking the trash out can remind them of this particular opportunity to raise money for their child’s school. And if the hashtag gains traction, that could be one more reminder for the person responsible for buying trash bags and kitchen supplies to consider Hefty. We’ll see if I’m right, but based on what I’ve learned this summer, I think this particular campaign has a good chance of success.

One class hardly makes me an expert, but if someone were to ask my advice on marketing, I’d tell them to do what would stand out to them if they were just watching TV or clicking around the Internet. Use all the noise of our current world to your advantage by doing something that people can be reminded of by something else common in their life. Do something that’s silly or tugs the heartstrings—or, if you’re brave, do something outrageous—because that’s what people will share. And most importantly, don’t just talk at your audience. Encourage a conversation through social media, because–unlike the trash–it’s here to stay.

#hefty #marketing #socialmedia #mcom241