P&G launches texting campaign for Crest toothpaste

Link:
P&G Launches SMS Effort for Crest, More to Follow.

Meh. So so. I’m not sure if this is that stimulating. Here’s what they are doing:

The SMS component is driven by print ads and on-site collateral such as bar napkins and signs in restrooms. These encourage people to text the words “IQ Extreme” to the short code CREST (27378) and answer a series of quiz-like multiple choice questions directly from their handsets. Many of the questions have to do with dating and pick-up scenarios. One asks, “Tonight is destined to be special, what do you wear?

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It’s a bit tooooo safe, for me, I think. There’s a fine line between smartly using mobile to reach your audience and doing-it-for-the-sake-of-it. I think it’s a bit too much of a stretch from selling toothpaste to asking people to take part in a quiz to possibly win some CDs. Just… sounds a bit… boring!

Perhaps their perspective is that the market is relatively new in America and thus will react well.

If it was me sat in front of P&G, I think I’d have come up with something else tied directly to toothpaste, some how. That, or made the whole campaign a lot more edgy.

Off the top of my head, I’d have encouraged the audience to do a ‘text us your best dating advice’ or something like that. You know, take that basic idea and shake it up. Integrate it into the web, then produce a survey which gets into the mainstream press, together with a little book off the back of it.

Still it’s good to see P&G getting into the medium and checking it out.