The Upside of the Unexplained

Are they serious by claiming to be targeting aliens or are they just flirting with the absurd? It doesn't matter. MoonPie's Alien Acquisition campaign exemplifies the efficiency of being interesting. Alien Acquisition succeeds at generating publicity and mental availability for the brand by getting more people to notice, think about, and even talk about the brand.

Interestingness is a process of extended discovery. And for a brand when the process feels complete, interestingness fades. Interest in MoonPie had been fading for a long time. There was nothing left to discover about the snack food, except for the small group on Twitter who found their voice funny. They took a big swing with Alien Acquisition, their first mass media campaign in ages. To generate interest they chose not to deliver a clear and comprehensible message about product benefits, but instead through the unexplained. Which seems to have generated surprise, confusion, and curiosity, all of which are forms of interest.

Marketers typically hate the unexplained. It's kryptonite. The belief is that if you aren't crystal clear people will be confused and won't do anything. And sure, if you confuse them unstrategically, then yes. But what you’re hoping for is “I don’t understand this, but I want to think about it more and find out more." Claiming a campaign is aimed at increasing sales among extraterrestrials is of course absurd. But by doubling down on the details of the idea, speaking in coded alien language for instance, they show they are willing to flirt with the unexplained to the real human audience.

Rory Sutherland, in his book Alchemy, argues that it doesn’t pay to be logical. "More often than we want to believe, people don’t respond to advertising with logical reasoning and don’t make conscious logical purchase decisions." Stacy Wall, the creator of "Lil Penny" and other great Nike campaigns at W+K, was even more direct when he said years ago that “Confusing people can be profitable.” As Sutherland says, "The majority of what inspires us ends up being unlikely... When an advertisement considers this, the outcomes are remarkable.”

Now I'm not saying this campaign is remarkable or worthy of awards, that's for other people to decide. But it does appear to be gaining attention and getting people to think about the brand again. And what the people behind the campaign seem to understand is that leaving things unexplained, leaving gaps for people to fill in, is interesting to people and efficient advertising.