Why Mailchimp wants to boost brand visibility, sales by targeting marketers on social media

Mailchimp wants to appeal to marketers by touting its ease of use. “Growing a business can feel like a guessing game regardless of whether you’re a brand-new marketer or a wizened marketing genius,” said Jones.

The company’s in-house creative agency, Wink Creative which has 40 members on staff, created the ads in collaboration with the film production company Smuggler and director Björn Rühmann. CMO Michelle Taite challenged them to combine their quirky, “expertly absurd” nature with a more sophisticated feel.

The ad spots were developed following an internal brainstorm that focused on cultural moments and trends. Mailchimp is looking to stand out with the spots by using avant-garde visual elements for the spots which will air on TV until 2023.

From its previous campaign, in which the brand advertised a program it created to support for entrepreneurs of color, Mailchimp’s marketing strategy has evolved more to reflect what its customers asked for — new features and tools to grow their revenue streams and kick-start their business momentum per Jones. “We started to mention these features last year but with this campaign, we’re really leaning into the benefits a lot more and even developed claims around them for marketers to understand their advantage,” he said.

It is unclear how much of Mailchimp’s advertising budget is allocated to this campaign, as Jones would not share overall budget specifics. According to Pathmatics data, the brand spent a little over $18.9 million so far on advertising efforts this year. The ads will also appear on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, and TikTok. Jones also declined to disclose how much of its advertising budget was split between the social platforms.

“We’re putting ad dollars behind our creative campaign so that it reaches as many potential customers and consumers on social media as possible, in the hopes that we can bolster brand visibility and sales for these deserving small businesses,” said Jones.

Due to the macroeconomic climate, small and medium businesses are increasingly shifting their marketing budgets to channels and tactics that are transparent and measurable. “The pressures for accountability to every dollar is at an all-time high, and Mailchimp is tapping into that emotional trigger with this campaign while keeping the creative execution light and fun,” said Margo Kahnrose, CMO at the omnichannel platform Skai. “That one-two punch of serious, timely message and sugar-coated delivery can make for a powerful advertising campaign.”