“The Book of Mormon” and Target Marketing.

We saw “The Book of Mormon” recently and really enjoyed it.  Hilarious and thoroughly offensive.

We also saw an especially good example of carefully targeted and executed marketing by LDS — a lesson many law and accounting firms could learn.

My wife, a former musical theater singer/dancer, always ensures that we arrive early to read the Playbill and see who she knows in the show.

Here’s the interesting part –

There were three consecutive right-side, full-page ads in the short program, each one with attractive smiling young person and a clever headline – “You’ve seen the play … now read The Book.”  “The Book is always better.”  And “I’ve read The Book.”  (Below):

Also:  

No lengthy text, just a quick eye-catching photo, an intriguing headline, a photo of the aforementioned “Book”, and a square QR code in the corner.  You can use an app on your smart phone to scan the QR code, which acts like a direct connection to a specific page on the Internet (here’s a screenshot of how it looked on my iPhone):

The QR (Quick Response) code  links to a website with some persuasive videos and information about LDS:

Great idea, great marketing.

Here’s the point:

Law and accounting firms too often take the obvious route, e.g. advertising in the local business publication or magazines dedicated to business owners and corporate counsel.  These are often good ideas — but it helps to look past them as well.  Dig deeper.  Consider creative solutions.  Think about where your targets go, what they read, what they attend.

Some creative marketer at a meeting in Salt Lake City must have said, “You know, I have a crazy idea – why don’t we become the primary advertiser for ‘The Book of Mormon’ Playbills?”

You’d have to imagine that the LDS community was already discussing what position they should take regarding the show.

I’m glad they took the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” approach.

Smart.

2018 Update:

BTW, we came across an interesting website, “The Ultimate Beginners Guide to Mormon Genealogy.” It looks like a pretty useful resource for anyone looking to discover their roots.  You can find it here.  Good luck!

All images (c) 2013 The Book of Mormon, and Intellectual Reserve Inc.