As I have discussed in previous blogs, Tom’s of Maine began with brand positioning, a kind of story- telling. What I have not yet discussed is how Tom’s then moved on to television commercials that brought their story to life. Their first ever television campaign didn’t air until 2004. Founder and president, Tom Chappell, hired a branding firm to produce their television commercial because of his value in storytelling. He wanted a team of skillful storytellers.
More recently, Tom’s has taken focus on “micro- influencers” to step up their Instagram game. These influencers are Instagram users who have up to 5,000 followers but engage a very high percentage of them around a specific topic…in this case, earth- friendly products. This strategy helped Tom’s build its Instagram community about eight percent in just two weeks to 1,000, with the goal of doubling the number within that year.
What works for Tom’s is how they use a functional context, such as a cute kid brushing his or her teeth with Tom’s toothpaste, as part of their social media advertisement. Another social media technique that worked for Tom’s was to give followers a glimpse into the company through photos of employees at community and volunteer events. Tom’s advertisements give users context and allow them to connect with the personality behind the brand. My favorite advertisement technique that Tom’s uses are the testimonials given by consumers who switched to Tom’s products. The testimonials just feel very authentic.
https://fleishmanhillard.com/2015/07/true/toms-of-maine-to-toms-of-gain/
Tom's of Maine Product Analysis 