Don’t stop me if you’ve heard this one. It’s been 10 years… A moth goes into a podiatrist’s office and rants about his life falling apart. After several attempts to interrupt, the podiatrist finally shouts, “STOP! …You’re clearly troubled, but you need a psychiatrist. I'm a podiatrist.”
“See? I get everything wrong… Sorry I wasted your time…” the moth replies.
“Wait!” the podiatrist says, “Can I ask you how you found us? Was it our advertising? ‘Big Foot’ monster truck sponsorship – clever, right? Social media?”
“Dude. I'm a moth,” he answered. “Your light was on.”
The point? Despite our best efforts to educate and promote ethanol to consumers, sometimes drivers just buy it anyway. Ethanol is clean, high-octane, renewable, American-made, and we’d like people to choose it for those reasons—and some do.
Over the years, millions have been spent telling consumers what we think is great about ethanol. The ads can be beautiful and clever, and we feel good when we see them, but I’m not sure they ‘land’ with Joe Six-Pack (or Joseph Four-Pack, if he’s a craft beer guy), because we promote what matters to us, not them.
I’ve been critical of some ethanol promotions because of messaging or spending, but mainly because if fuel advertising was effective, we’d see more gas ads than beer ads. The oil industry sells half a trillion dollars worth of fuel annually with almost no advertising. ExxonMobil is always top 10 in total revenue but never even sniffs the top 100 in ad spending. Most big oil branded advertising we see is placed by local marketers, partially reimbursed with co-op funds that are a fraction of the extra markup they pay for “branded” fuel. They can get a buck back by spending two dollars promoting their oil company.
All that said, some recent ethanol promotions “get it.” The South Dakota Corn Utilization Council’s “It’s OK to Go Low” campaign is a prime example. It zeroes in on what will absolutely land with the Joes and Joannes: Price. Some ads don’t even mention ethanol—showing both humility (recognizing “ethanol” carries baggage) and confidence (knowing it’s in the cheapest fuel). They’re also running a joint campaign with Kwik Trip/Kwik Star to promote E15. The ads are a little corn-y to me, but drivers trust retailers more than us when it comes to fuel quality.
Whether drivers love ethanol or not doesn’t matter as much as the fact drivers buy it. That’s the goal. The most effective campaigns recognize people aren’t seeking out ethanol for lofty reasons—they’re drawn to lower priced fuel by the “low fuel” light blinking on their dashboard.
Like moths to a podiatrist.