The Marketing of Fear - Creativity in Apps

What is a better motivator than the fear of humiliation - especially in front of your peers. Marketers have often used fear as a motivator - have you ever REALLY watched daytime television commercials? There are more diseases and maladies out there than you can shake a stick at, but don't worry we probably have a drug for it (side affects too).

The creative Brazilian sustainability institute Akatu and agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made created a custom app to save you in ONE of these many humiliating moments, one I am sure all of my readers have experienced. This moment is unique to the bathroom. 

The app creates FAKE shower sounds to help mask any... other... sounds that may be coming from the bathroom you currently occupy. Now I would first like to applaud the company for this creative idea. However immediately after that small round of applause I would like to talk about the reality of this app. If you are using this app we can assume a few things. First - the bathroom you are in has a shower, second there are people around who you do not want to hear what is about to really happen. 

I for one can only think of a FEW times in my life this is going to work. What is worse... making unsightly sounds in the bathroom, or coming out of the bathroom to "were you taking a shower? Why is your hair dry? Did you use my towel?" Or worse of all "Why does it smell like air freshener?" 

What is stopping you from turning on the real shower? The fear of wasting water? Lets face it, if you have this app you clearly have a larger fear at play here. I give this app an "A" for thinking outside of the box, I mean if "Draw Something" was sold for $200 million I am sure this has got to be worth something! I also applaud the thought of bailing anyone out of an  uncomfortable situation. However in execution I give this app a "D" because I can not think of enough situations to validate the usage of the app!

Stay tuned for our next creative App review!