Sometimes I see something that make me embarrassed to work in the field of Advertising / Marketing. I’ll admit that the word “embarrassed” is a strong term to use because most people don’t even bat an eye at some of the stupidity that drives me bonkers. Recently I attended Frozen On Ice… excuse me, Disney On Ice presents Frozen Presented by Stonyfield Yokids Organic Yogurt.
At any rate, I took my kids to see Frozen On Ice. When we got there, we were bombarded with multiple “opportunities” to spend extra money on the way to our seats: Olaf t-shirts, magic wands, glowing spinners, Frozen-themed ice cream, “Frozen” Snow Cones, cotton candy and a chance to get your picture taken with a Ford SUV (I won’t even get into this).
When the show finally started, the Stonyfield YoKids team took to the ice for 15 minutes of “fun". Yes, 15 minutes – an eternity of time to young kids (and their parents), especially when this branded activity is all that stands between them and Elsa. The YoKids number involved a crew of “teens” dancing around on the ice, talking about being fit and making healthy choices that revolved around eating more yogurt. It was brutal. Not a kid in the building took a minute from their high-fructose corn syrup snow cone presented by Disney on Ice to heed any advice from the Stonyfield sages dressed in tights that aligned with the different Yokids flavors.
Even worse: when I went to write this blog post, the only thing of substance I could find was a press release from Feld Entertainment (the company that manages the Disney “On Ice” property) with a headline that describes the partnership as “Landmark.” Personally I prefer to use the term “Landmark” when describing such events as court decisions. Where was all the great press coverage? Other than being ignored by kids and infuriating parents, what was the benefit to the yogurt brand?
In closing, I can’t imagine how much Stonyfield ponied up for this partnership. I also can’t imagine a single cup of Yogurt was sold as a result – and I am guessing there are hundreds of thousand pissed off parents who had to explain to their kids that Elsa and Anna would be on the ice soon enough once the Yokids Hype Team finished their pitch.
~ Jaime Hamel, @StopHamelTime & Digital Strategist, The S3 Agency
