The next installment in my favorite movie series, Saw V, comes to theaters this Friday, October 24th. Let me tell you how a unique tool used in its promotion blows my mind - nasty pun intended
Here’s what engagement with movies used to look like:
The consumer sees a movie trailer a few months before the film’s release. In the weeks preceding the big release date, the consumer sees a few 30-second commercial spots on TV. Perhaps they catch a glimpse of the movie poster during a visit to the theater. Finally, the big night arrives, and it’s up to the producers to immerse the consumer in a 2-hour experience that will encourage them to speak positively about the film with their friends.
The quality of the movie is out of marketers’ hands, yes. But marketers have found a new way to ensure that consumers are spending more than 2 hours with their movie brands, thereby increasing the chances that they will share their engagement with others. Furthermore, marketers are transcending the concept of word-of-mouth, a crucial determinant in the movie-going process. In a 2006 Los Angeles Times poll on the moviegoing habits of teens and young adults, 38% of those surveyed said they share their opinions about a movie during or right after the film or on the same day. It is hardcore fans alone who hit up the message boards. So how can marketers gain and virally spread the interest of casual movie-goers, people who may have a slight interest in their films?
Mashups aren’t entirely new to the YouTube universe. People have been recreating trailers for a while now, posting “re-cut” versions on YouTube for pure entertainment purposes (sometimes, hilariously inappropriate entertainment purposes). Marketers found a way to turn these blatant copyright violations into promotional machines. The mashup has become an incredible marketing tool.
You want the proof?
In 3 days, I spent 10 hours creating mashup trailers from the Saw movie series. 10 hours of TRUE engagement. 10 hours of FREE engagement. And you better believe that I am creating buzz with my friends. Upon posting the mashup tool to my Facebook profile, I uncovered three more Saw fans, manifested in the form of public wall posts, status updates, and news-feed glory.
It’s a simple concept: incent me to chop up your movie by entering my work into a contest with a sweet prize. I am likely to spend hours perfecting my trailer, spread the word, and see your movie. Combined, DVR adoption and the internet have opened doors such that a 30-second commercial should serve as no more than a reminder. Make consumers feel your brand by finding ways they would like to interact.
It used to be a scary thing - giving control of your brand to your consumers. But isn’t marketing about giving the people what they want?
Ok, so I WAS going to blog on one of my favorite topics - the desperate survival tactics of Starbucks, most recently with their new and surprisingly successful Oatmeal product launch. BUT, I decided to table this rant for a more timely and irresistible topic: JOE THE PLUMBER.
“Joe” (actually Samuel J. Wurzelbacher - whose personal story has taken an interesting political/media twist) took center stage at the third and final presidential debate when Obama referenced a conversation he had with Joe about his small business and the taxes he might face under Obama’s tax plan.
Right, so what does this have to do with interactive marketing?
Well, perhaps not surprisingly, Joe the Plumber has fueled yet another opportunistic marketing frenzy. Shortly after the debate, there was a lively bidding war on Joe the Plumber keywords. According to a recent ClickZ article, regional plumbing company Mr. Rooter topped the sponsored listings on Yahoo with “Joe Plumber.” Cafe Press also joined the madness with a “Joe the Plumber” T-shirt. (Of course. Nothing these days escapes the grip of the screen print tee.)
ClickZ also reported: “Over at Google, the Obama-Biden campaign purchased the keywords that link to a Web site that includes a calculator.” Here taxpayers can use the microsite to calculate the personal impact of Obama’s tax plan by simply entering their salary.
And this is where opportunistic marketing meets interactive best practices.
The Obama-Biden campaign didn’t just purchase the keywords and walk away. They approached this like seasoned online marketers. They linked them to a relevant destination: a microsite that addresses the very topic that surrounded the idea of Joe the Plumber: how each candidates tax plan will impact small businesses and individuals. If McCain’s camp doesn’t respond, Obama will end up with the final word on this topic.
Purely looking at the marketing play here - this was a very smart reaction on the part of the Obama camp. Online has been a very good friend to this campaign. And make no mistake, it has happened very deliberately by a group of extemely savvy digital and social media marketers.
Have you ever wondered about natural group dynamics, who actually leads them, why we’ve joined the ones we are already in, and how to effectively communicate your brand to them?
This was essentially the platform for a presentation I was fortunate enough to participate in. On Thursday, Oct. 9th I attended a day of the Catalyst Leadership conference here in Atlanta, touted as the largest gathering of young leaders. Sitting amongst 12,400 highly enthusiastic participants, I think the Catalyst folks who claim this position and produce this highly creative event might be right. Switchfoot killed it with an acoustic set.
The experience was tops – I enjoyed hearing Jim Collins, Author, Good to Great and a certifiable genius, challenge everyone with the statement “good is the enemy of great”. Ponder that for a bit. But the speaker I want to share about was Seth Godin, who probably needs no introduction to this blog’s audience. He continues his rich trail of marketing consulting with a new book called Tribes. It releases October 16th and I received an advance copy yesterday. Also gave an extra one to my colleagues Shannon and Darren (SG fans), and told them to share. We’ll see how well that goes .
First, a definition for you. A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. They are about faith – about believing in an idea and in their community. Now, let’s consider the Internet. It has enabled these tribes to form and flourish - with blogs, social networking sites, Twitter, content, self-publishing and more. It’s eliminated geography and done truly amazing things for creating tribes. For the wine nut who follows Gary Vaynerchuck, or the microfinance enthusiast on Kiva or conscientious giver on GiftCard Giver, you know what I’m talking about.
It’s the people, people! Seth shared so many awesome examples of the Web enabling tribes to be more effective – some close to home, some totally mind-opening. But it became clear to me that it’s not really about the Internet. I mean it is, in terms of tactics and tools, but don’t we know by now that current ones will fade away and new ones will replace them. What’s really powerful about tribes is the people. The segment of an audience. People who are in a tribe because they all believe strongly in the same cause or movement. People who communicate to each other in their tribe.
Heretics. The new leaders Seth posited that while the Web can do amazing things to nurture tribes, it can’t provide leadership. He asked the question: Who is going to lead these tribes?
Think about the term heretic and you’ll know why he uses it. Heretics don’t let rules or religion stand in the way of what they want to accomplish. Oh, and for all my Marketing peers out there, I’ll share a simple but loaded equation to you from Seth: Marketing = Leadership and Leadership = Marketing.
He shared 7 traits of a heretical tribal leader:
Challenge – they challenge their tribe!
Culture – they intentionally create it. And I’ll add a favorite quote of mine from the brilliant Andy Crouch: “the only way that cultures change is when people make more culture”.
Curiosity – they’re always probing…
Charisma – some inherently have it, but most get it because of their leadership
Communicate – they talk with, not “to” or “at”
Connect – they make it easy for followers to connect with them and with others
Commit – they commit to the wellness of the tribe
Inspire you?? One other thing. You may know Seth Godin is a renowned speaker. I had heard he was one of the best presenters in the business world yet I was still blown away by his impeccable skills. His story (and it really was a story) was illustrated by no less than 70-80 slides. Each slide was a photograph, or diagram, with very few texts, all powerfully aiding his narrative. It’s the type of presentation I always strive to give, but woefully fail at…
So I’ll close with a few questions for you to think about:
What tribe are you proud to claim membership in?
Are you a tribal leader?
Marketers, what are you doing to nurture tribes in your profession and provide relevant brand experiences to tribal members?
Marketing communications have shifted from a one-way street to a conversation with the customer. New media grants your customers easy access to channels that allow them to share their opinions about your brand with millions of other people. Until recently, marketers have allowed customers to bad-mouth their brands, accepting that they have no control over what is posted in the blogosphere. The game is rapidly changing, though, thanks to marketers who are willing to take risks.
“Outside the box” thinking? Most marketers believe they are thinking outside the box when they create a viral video or take user feedback into consideration for future campaigns. EA took this idea one step further: literally responding to a single customer (albeit, a very popular one) by creating a hilariously creative YouTube video response featuring the real Tiger Woods.
Some serious negative discussion was reversed into some hugely positive buzz (almost 2 million views, to be exact, and countless blog posts). Granted, this response came nearly a year after Levinator25’s video was first posted. It’s certainly a step in the right direction, though! Viral videos are pretty exciting (although the novelty is rapidly wearing thin and truly buzz-worthy concepts are becoming harder to capture), but a genuine video response to a YouTube posting, that talks directly to a vlogger and his viewers in their language? Now THAT is revolutionary!
I think it’s safe to say that we love Viral Marketing here at Engauge! Clearly, one of the best ways to get your viral videos the most exposure is to get some attention on YouTube. I was browsing last night and stumbled upon a video which totally blew my mind. Check it out for yourself:
Now you might wonder “how is this a viral marketing video?” Well, I’m not sure if it is or isn’t. But, the video itself made me very curious to find out how this “trick” was done. I started searching the Web for answers and ran across a couple different theories. Check out Snopes to learn more about similar videos.
The most logical theory is that something else is heating the popcorn underneath the table, as suggested at About:Urban Legands. They also suggested it could be a viral marketing campaign for some still unknown popcorn brand. If that’s the case, the marketing team behind this campaign is doing an excellent job of creating a YouTube hit.
People have been duplicating the video in several languages and many of them are getting tons of exposure. Hey, if they come out with popcorn that can be popped using cell phones then we could all eat on-the-go without microwaves. How great would that be?!
Urban Legand or Viral Marketing? Either way, it’s really cool! Maybe we should just test this popcorn trick out! Who’s hungry??!!
For those who watch Lost and didn’t rush past the Octagon Global Recruiting commercial as you Tivo’d your way through the final episode of the season, you caught a brief glimpse of some fine viral marketing in action. The commercial’s low-budget industrial video vibe gave the spot a sticking-out-like-a-sore-thumb quality that led my boyfriend to yell out “Look, it’s a Lost commercial” as I Tivo’d by in search of the next chunk of story. So smart of them to have the commercial appear so unpolished in comparison to the high-dollar ads that usually run during the show, for just that reason - the Tivo phenomenon of commercial skippage.
The sort of baffling and pseudo-realistic nature of the commercial, i.e. What is this? Who is this? Recruiting for what? Why San Diego? Huh? led many viewers to explore further (not to mention the site URL is shown at the end). I was sent the link by a friend first thing the next morning www.OctagonGlobalRecruiting.com.
Just as brief and just as baffling as the commercial, the Octagon site is one page (if you don’t count the legalese links). And it is totally unrecognizable as Lost-related, but for the Dharma Initiative references and the little ABC copyright at the bottom.
It eerily attempts to pass as real, like the commercial, and joins the many other “pseudo” Lost sites out there, such as: Oceanic Air, The Hanso Foundation, Driveshaft, Mega Lotto and the Widmore Group.The one big thing the Octagon Global site does do is provide a big-old form field and submit button to collect your email address. (Oh, always with the email address)
So in lieu of having an ad that says “sign-up on our website to receive X,Y,Z”, the Lost franchise uses the mystique of the show to create an alternate universe of data collecting that is much more fun. Well, sort of. Of course, I entered my address. I have no idea what the outcome of that action will be … but my fascination with Lost continues, not just as a story but in its role as a TV guinea pig for new avenues of marketing - in addition to the TV/website tie-ins: like advergames, mobile, user-generated content and guerrilla marketing, not too mention the best full-episode video player on the web.
I have been thinking a lot about viral video … What makes a video go viral? Great content!
What makes great content? Who knows? That is like saying “what will people find interesting, funny, relevant, etc.”
Some colleagues recently shared a viral video with me that underscores that it does not take expensive production costs to create something that people will find interesting and pass along to friends.
After watching this video just once, you will be humming the song and singing the tagline “It’s just like a mini-mall!” The brilliance in this video (with over 2.5 million views on YouTube and counting) is that is it simple, catchy, original, and fun. The Flea Market Montgomery owner, Sammy Stephens has become a minor celebrity with appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Family Force 5’s webisode series The Really Real Show.
Why did this video become viral? It is just plain FUN!
I just read a post on The Influencial Marketing Blog called “The 3 Philosophies of Word of Mouth Marketing.” The writer had attended WOMM-U 2008, an event dedicated to the fast-growing branch of marketing, and picked up on some common themes about how WOM was defined. These included:
WOM is a Channel
WOM is an Outcome
WOM is Viral / Buzz
He says “WOM as a channel” would be an excellent way to to describe WOM to traditional marketers who are accustomed to media channels, while”WOM as an outcome” suggests that ultimately WOM is an outcome to all forms of marketing. So in some ways, everything we do stimulates WOM.
The final idea is probably the most common description. “WOM is Viral” suggests that the ultimate purpose of WOM is for messages to go viral. The writer agrues that while this is perhaps the most popular thought, it isn’t necessarily true. He says that viral tends to describe one person passing something to another person, regardless of quality, while in its purest form, WOM is intended to create positive buzz.
Why would you want to spend a lot of $$$ to build a site to permeate your brand into the mind of the public, and then never really show the brand itself? In the case of the Sound of Color, The GAP has a great concept, beautifully presented and meticulously executed, to support their “Color Redefined” campaign, yet the site never refers to the campaign, the logo, or Gap products. Not a stitch of denim anywhere! It does leaves the viewer with a strong and, more importantly, a new impression of the Gap brand. While still perceived as youthful, The GAP is seen as an idea generator, a patron of the arts, a catalyst for creativity, and in tune with technology and communication.
The message is delivered through the language of music and video, which the target audience speaks fluently. To their credit, The GAP has focused on the viral possibilities of the site and music downloads, rather than the more traditional use of media placement. The site will live for only a month, but the music will be woven into the fabric of daily life as its passed from friend to friend. The strong response elicited in their audience is one that will persist. That’s $$$ well spent.
Everyone is trying to figure out online video these days. We know that every day more and more people are turning to the web to view content that they used to get from their television. Look no further than the once popular TV show, “America’s Funniest Home Videos”. Today that’s called YouTube. And most of the popular TV shows today are broadcasting their episodes on their websites soon after the episode runs on TV.
I recently found two blog posts / articles that talk about how to get online video right. The first is by YouTube Celebrity (he probably hates me calling him that), Kevin Nalts. If you missed it, Nalts recently pranked us at Spunlogic and you can see it on YouTube (of course).
In his recent blog post entitled, “The Marketer’s Cheat Sheet to Viral Video” (which, if you are at all interested in viral video and how it should work with marketing, you should subscribe to his blog), he goes through eight steps to making a successful viral video. This post is a must read for any marketer trying to figure this not-so-new medium out.
Taking a different tact on the online video space, Esquire magazine has an article that talks about the qualities that make a successful webisode. I had to post about this article because it talks about Michael Cera, which gives me yet another opportunity to mention that Arrested Development is the greatest show of all time.
And if you haven’t checked it out yet, take a look at Clark and Michael (pic above). Excellent example of what a webisodic show should be and yet another Cera masterpiece. He’s the really cool looking guy on the right.
At Spunlogic, we have a lot of great experience and unique ideas to share. From work with clients to new approaches and trends, in this award winning blog you'll find Spunlogic experts sharing their opinions and ideas on all aspects of interactive marketing.
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