Professor explains the reasons for the success of Dolly’s campaign
“Dolly, Dolly Guarana, Dolly”. One thing I’m sure of: you completed the song in your head, and I even apologize in advance for leaving it in your head right now.
In 2022, it’s been 35 years since Dolly’s campaign was launched and even after so long, the commercial has repercussions in the advertising world and goes against the grain of its competitors.
While current advertising campaigns have been modernized and have large productions, agencies, actions and, above all, money, Dolly maintains the same campaign launched 35 years ago, which is adapted according to the time of year, and remains a success. The question that remains is: how?
According to the teacher. Ms. Giovanni Tavares Pereira, professor of advertising creation at ESPM Porto Alegre, explaining how Dolly’s campaign is still part of people’s lives may seem complex, but there are some important factors that can answer the question.
According to IBGE data, from 2001 to mid-2018, there was a significant increase in the Brazilian population, moving from lower classes, such as D and E, to class C. to consume products that he could not consume before, such as soda.
“Perhaps the recipe for Dolly’s success is having understood well which social class she relates to”, said Prof. Ms. Giovanni Tavares Pereira
“With an extremely popular appeal, using a ‘gimmick’ with a simple design and an easy to remember jingle, Dolly’s commercials ended up consolidating their consumption in a good part of this social class, but now, with more purchasing power, they start to consume it more often”, explained the professor.
With the advancement of technology, it is questionable why Dolly did not modernize her campaign, but the answer is simpler than one might imagine, according to the academic. “What can explain Dolly’s option to continue producing her commercials with such quality, since we have producers in the country with the highest technical level in the production of 3D commercials, is the classic matrix of resource restriction, in which quality is being determined or for lack of deadline or budget, when not, for the two items together”, said Pereira.
As you can imagine, the bubblegum jingle also contributed – and continues to contribute – to the fact that Dolly remains in people’s lives and memories, and psychology explains the reason for the success of the song.
“With simple, repetitive lyrics and an easy-to-memorize melody, it hits our brain that loves ‘rewards’, for being able to remember and sing such simple songs the moment they are performed, in the same way as when we are children and we love watching and reviewing the same movie or song to know exactly what will happen next”, explained the professor.
Another factor that contributed to Dolly’s success is her mascot, Dollynho. The brand’s owner, Laerte Codonho, once revealed that the character was made to resemble a “Teletubbie”, a children’s show that was very successful in the 90s.
Currently, Dollynho is successful on social networks and with the young-adult and teen audience, so much so that the character has already become a tattoo and there is no shortage of memes with the bottle doll.
For Prof. Ms. Giovanni Tavares Pereira, the combination of all these factors is what keeps Dolly in the minds of consumers. “Perhaps the recipe for Dolly’s success is having understood well which social class she relates to, maintaining an easily identifiable language that will generate engagement on social networks, which leads us to the old saying ‘speak well or speak badly, but talk about me’, he concluded.