Weight Watchers: 1972 to Now

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From a 10 year anniversary to its first ever global marketing campaign, Weight Watchers is making strides with backing from celebrities other than Oprah.

The 1972 Ad: An Anniversary

Copy Content

Like a lot of the ads in these Life magazines, Weight Watchers went heavy on the copy for this 10 year anniversary advertisement. They provided a clear headline—"Weight Watchers celebrates ten years that changed the shape of the world"—humorous when you think about it, and then gave readers five paragraphs of information.

It's quite a bit of content so heres the gist of it:
  • First column, paragraph one: Says the 10 year anniversary is "next May" (May 1973) and readers can celebrate by starting WW now instead of later.
  • First column, paragraph two: "Millions of Members," WW is showing off its success and authority as a weight loss system.
  • Second column, paragraph one: explanation of the three-in-one plan and how it works, plus the "bonus" program.
  • Second column, paragraph two (all bold type): call to action
  • Third column: "FREE!" booklet available at WW classes, "No obligation, of course."
The content is a basic format seen in many copy heavy advertisements and in some commercials around now. Provide readers or viewers with a call to action, display the success or authority of the product or service, explain the product or service, provide another call to action, include a bonus or incentive to convince readers and viewers to buy your product or service over the competitor. Look back at the breakdown of the ad and you can see this layout plain and simple.

Imagery

The imagery for this ad is odd, and not the greatest compared to previous advertisements we've discussed. Aside from the cut-out flat of the "free" program, the rest of the imagery looks as though it was hand drawn or painted and then placed on the ad. Viewing this alongside other ads of the time and seeing the success claimed by Weight Watchers, one would think the brand would have the money to provide better imagery—especially for an anniversary advertisement.

A First: 2018's Global Marketing Campaign


The interesting thing about 2018's marketing campaign is that it was a summer campaign. And the first of its kind for WW. According to Stacy Mowbray, President of North American, Weight Watchers International, Inc., "historically, we have focused on [marketing in] the winter season because we know people are motivated in the new year to get healthy, but we know people want to live well all year long" (Weight Watchers).

 The campaign focused heavily on celebrity endorsement by including "ambassadors." The list of celebrity ambassadors includes DJ Khalid, Kevin Smith, Chef Eric Greenspan, Robbie Williams, and Kate Hudson, plus Oprah, of course.

Along with its "Summer of Impact" campaign, Weight Watchers announced "a global impact campaign, 'WW Good'" (Market Insider). This initiative included a global hashtag and six mini-festivals throughout North America (Market Insider).

Comparison

Obviously the imagery improved a whole lot—from sketch-like images to actual people—but the main tactic changed as well. Instead of the basic ad format we saw in the 1972 advertisement—CTA, authority, explanation, CTA, incentive—the 2018 marketing campaign took advantage of celebrity endorsement to appeal to viewers.


References:

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