Procter & Gamble?s shaving brand Gillette is attempting to bring fathers and sons back together for Father?s Day by intercepting mobile and online how-to searches and targeting them with ads that prompt users to ask their fathers instead.

Gillette?s mobile video is promoting its Shave Club program through a unique targeting experience that attempts to bring back the old-school how-to technique of simply asking your father. The video ad shows examples of young men trying to learn things from the Internet and compares the experience to having their dad show them and is being shared to young men searching how-to questions online. 

?Starting today through Father?s Day, Gillette Shave Club will be placing ads against top how-to related online searches including shaving, as well as non-shaving specific terms, e.g. how to change your oil, etc.,? said Barbara Diecker, communications manager at Gillette. 

The mobile-enabled video ads are targeting users looking for how-to answers online and instead reminding them that they can just ask their father. The idea is to target dads and sons whose dynamic has changed over the years thanks to mobile and the Internet, with young adults simply searching online for answers instead of asking their elders. 


The Go Ask Dad video

The targeted ads appear as sponsored posts within search engines to those who have searched for how-to terms related to shaving and other things you can learn from your parents, leading up to Father?s Day. 

Gillette?s Go Ask Dad video showcases numerous young adult men from different backgrounds while attempting to learn tasks such as shaving, tying a tie and talking to girls. The boys first try to teach themselves by looking up how-to videos and information online. 

Go Ask Dad campaign is tapping into the father-son tradition of the first shave and is promoting subscriptions to its Gillette Shave Club and Fusion ProShield product. 

Mobile search is growing as an effective tool for marketers. Google?s test of directly publishing content into mobile search results is a potentially significant change that puts greater narrative control in marketers? hands while boosting the impact of voice search (see more). 

Similarly, Anheuser-Busch?s Bud Light brand joined forces with Google?s search function to sponsor National Football League-related content ahead of last fall?s season in a bid to capture the attention of football fans via second-screen additive experiences on mobile (see more). 

?[The campaign is] driving people to our Go Ask Dad video encouraging them to turn to their dads for advice,? Ms. Diecker said.