I’ll sheepishly admit that I’m not the biggest fan of obscure marketing initiatives. The Subservient Chicken bored me. I’m a landing page creator’s worst nightmare – cute, creative or otherwise, I’ll just Google the company’s name when I have a chance. However, my brand loyalty for Kettle Chips made me consider Crunch Proud, at least for a moment, that is.

I learned about Crunch Proud from AdRants, which billed the initiative as an online promotion and sweepstakes which invites people to join the loud food club. At the end of the post, a little quip caught my attention:

So if you’re a Kettle potato chip lover, this campaign’s for you. Oh wait, no it’s not. You’re already branded. So do the brand a solid and tell your Ruffles-loving friends to check out Kettle.

This statement struck me for one reason – my intuition leads me to believe it’s true, that the majority of people engaging in these light-hearted initiatives are already brand loyal. So what makes them successful? Brand ambassadors? Word-of-mouth referrals?

Having visited www.CrunchProud.com, having read the Loud Food Pledge and having downloaded the kit, I’m convinced this is just a fun, stress-buster for Kettle Chip’s existing clientele. The content, IMHO, skews young and I just can’t see this initiative converting new visitors into customers. Perhaps it’s just my natural skepticism, but I think these humorous, viral campaigns are intended more as an incentive for existing clients than a hook for baiting new ones.

Sure, they will spark conversation at the water cooler. And the topic of conversation, obscure as it is, may bring in one or two customers when coupled with a word-of-mouth referral, but is this campaign alone enough to stop people in their tracks and get them to purchase Kettle Chips? I’m interested to hear how other people react to obscure landing pages and obscure campaigns. Does out-of-the-box thinking make you brand loyal? Is it an effective tool for boosting sales or an added value offering for existing customers?

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