We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. Having a deep understanding of the consumer mindset is a surefire way to create winning advertising.
And when you do that, you form a connection with the consumer, and they know you understand them.
The latest example comes from Alphabet’s Nest Division, makers of the Nest thermostats, home security cameras, and smoke/carbon monoxide detectors. The ad targets an often overlooked demographic when it comes to home products: men.
Men are simple creatures, and there are few things to know about them with regard to the home: They like gadgets, they like to know what’s happening, and they like to control the temperature (often to the displeasure of the women in the house).
Understanding that, Nest has unveiled a new tagline, “We (heart) Home,” and a series of ads to support it. The tagline is pretty straightforward and simple (so it’s easy for dudes to understand).
By itself, the tagline isn’t terribly magical or memorable. It’s not even necessarily male-oriented. But it’s paid off beautifully in the brand’s advertising, specifically the new ad for the Nest security camera, which gets straight to heart of the male mindset.
In the ad, we see a home’s exterior at night, and a shadowy figure approaching it. It then cuts to a middle-aged man who receives a notification on his phone. His strategically placed Nest cameras capture the figure entering the home and moving through it.
Calmly, the man watches the action in real time on his phone. It’s soon revealed that the shadowy figure is his daughter (who incidentally is dressed like an actual burglar). When she commits another crime men hate — drinking milk straight from the carton — it’s too much for him to bear and he chastises her through the Nest speaker.
The ad doesn’t show what most likely happens next: the daughter goes to turn up the heat on the Nest thermostat, and the father immediately turns it back down from his remote location, telling her there isn’t a money tree in the backyard.
Generally, we like this ad and give it a thumbs-up. It’s a tad unrealistic, as we can’t believe the daughter would be so calm about constantly being watched by her father. But the point is to show how men can use Nest cameras to keep an eye on things.
More importantly, the Nest ad hits on another, more emotional theme common to men — the drive to protect their homes and families. Nest shows how they can serve in that role from literally anywhere in the world.
Being the family’s protector and using cool gadgets to do it. What could possibly be better?
