Viral Marketing: A Fine Line Between Funny and Terrible
Guerilla and social media marking campaigns all dream of going viral – a la Old Spice Man on a Horse – but some advertising really strikes out. Below is a look at two particularly bad unfortunate ad campaigns that resulted in more bad press than good. Let this be a lesson that for every Old Spice man on a horse, there is also an Aqua Teen Hunger Force bomb scare.
Mafia Wars: Leading to Wars with City Hall
No more than a few weeks ago, the video game maker Zynga was advertising for its Mafia Wars Las Vegas expansion pack. Allegedly, this company authorized an ad agency to plant fake $25,000 bills on the sidewalks of San Francisco. The plan was for pedestrians to pick up said bills, and find the address of the Mafia Wars website, where they could get information on Mafia Wars: Las Vegas. However, the City of San Francisco did not take the marketing tactic very well – and reported that the cleanup effort was of great expense to the city. The San Francisco’s city attorney’s office is now officially investigating the incident.
“The Last Exorcism” and Chatroulette: Two iffy things that did not go great together
Everyone’s favorite random video chat website Chatroulete was seemingly the perfect medium on which to promote the Lionsgate horror film The Last Exorcism. Its complete anonymity lents itself well to beginning short-lived interactions with strangers.
Playing off of this random notion, the marketing team behind The Last Exorcism decided to show a taped video to those connecting to it on the Chatroulette . Subsequently, they released a video on their YouTube channel showing the “best of” reactions of those watching the exorcism video. In the clip, a female begins gesturing to remove her clothing, when suddenly her eyes roll back and she screams into the camera before the screen goes black. Meanwhile, the viewer is expected to look at the reactions on the male’s faces – which show notable distress.
While the Chatroulette “social experiment” service is currently down, the videos were released as part of a marketing campaign to drum up excitement for the movie. However, this is not the first YouTube video in this movie’s marketing mix. A few weeks ago, a website called Church of Saint Marks appeared online with supposed “information” on exorcism. Meanwhile, the site actually featured one of the main characters from the movie, Reverend Cotton Marcus of the fictional Saint Marks Church.
Does Facebook Marketing Work In Elections? – Gary Bivings on Digital Politics Radio – August 10
Continuing his bi-weekly appearance on the Digital Politics Radio show with Karen Jagoda, last Tuesday Gary and Karen discussed the use of Facebook and other online advertising in the upcoming midterm elections. A few highlights and the mp3 interview bellow. Next appearance: Tuesday, August 24th at 3:00pm EST.
The show’s discussion focused on two elections – one for Governor of California, and one for the Republican Senate nomination in Colorado. The campaigns all featured use of twitter and facebook, and only time will tell whether or not shrewd use of social media had a profound impact on either election.
Karen and Gary also discussed the prevalence of online display ads – particularly the influence that those ads may or may not wield over voters. Like business marketing, it is easy to measure Cost Per Click or other standard advertising metrics; but what about the idea that greater exposure to an ad can lead to a different voting outcome? As Gary put it – online political advertising and polling “rarely makes back money when you do it”, but it increases the overall persuasion of the voting constituency. The impact is still there, it may just be harder to measure. The same goes for with innovation – such as Meg Whitman’s polling ads on Facebook – you’re more likely to get free press online and in print for a new and creative ad than by sticking with the status quo.
Click below to play part 1 and part 2 of the August 10th, 2010 radio show:
MTV Twitter Jockey Endorsement: @LivitLuvit
To some, Washington D.C. is “the problem” that needs to be “fixed.” For those of us who live or work in or around the District, the fact that whatever is happening at the White House or in Congress tends to overshadow everything else that is going on in or around can be somewhat frustrating. Regardless of whether or not you believe that Washington D.C. has an ‘image’ problem, when it comes to the work of local individuals, businesses and organizations in the realm of online communications and social media- D.C. is does not always getting the respect or recognition that many deserve.
Momentarily leaving aside the fact that LiLu has the most compelling blog, and is far more engaged with her fans and followers on Twitter and Facebook, during lunch yesterday afternoon I was surprised to learn that most of our local media outlets, blogs and influential personalities have not (as of yet) show our local candidate much love in regards to voting her up to the top of MTV’s list or helping her complete MTV’s various challenges! Thankfully, it is not too late- but it is crunch time!
Please consider taking a few minutes and voting for @LivitLuvit on Facebook, then invite your friends to do the same! Although it is obviously a drag to allow American Express access to your info, you can of course revoke access at the end of the contest. If you have already done, or don’t want to do that, you can still help by simply re-tweeting @LivitLuvit ! MTV and Edelman have set up an interesting system to calculate the candidate’s reach and impact on Twitter called “TweetLevel.” (Although some clown I have never heard of called “Justin Bieber” has a lock on the overall #1 spot.)
Also right now for her 4th challenge, LiLu needs our help persuading celebrities to follow her on Twitter. (I am hoping the District’s own Wale Folarin will take up the cause!.)
Again, besides being the best candidate with an excellent understanding of online communications and social media tools, I think it is pretty obvious that having the first MTV Twitter Jockey hail from D.C. would be good for all of us in the area.
@Safeway:You MUST Like This Page to Continue vs. Like @NissanEVs LEAF & Plant a Tree
In the last two days Safeway and Nissan have launched unique Facebook landing pages that take different approaches to accomplish similar objectives. Playing off two very different motivations, both companies want your profile information and status updates in exchange for delivering a reward. In this case, money or karma. Winning the award for the most aggressive approach is Safeway’s landing page promoting a $100 Memorial Day gift card giveaway. Considering the potential to generate a very high number of names, mailing addresses, phone numbers, email addresses as well as Facebook, Twitter and blog postings compared to the relatively low cost of the promotion itself: $500 total in gift cards, plus web consulting fees. I would expect more companies to follow suit. There is of course the added benefit that most people who enter the contest and “like” Safeway’s page will most likely stay fans of Safeway’s for the immediate future, thus giving Safeway additional opportunities to market their supermarkets. (Poorly Photoshopped text added.)
As for Nissan, instead of the chance to win a $100 gift card, in exchange for “liking” AutoNation / LEAF and selecting your choice of locations, you are rewarded with a Facebook status message informing the world that your slacktivism: “Just planted a tree in Brazil which will help re-develop the Atlantic Rainforest that has been depleted by sugar cane production.” Also very clever of AutoNation / Nissan to advertise on the current live stream of TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference. It will be very interesting to see which promotion is more successful. Are more Facebook users willing to give up a lot of personal information for a chance to win $100 vs. the certainty of planting a tree? Current stats are 74,695 fans for Safeway and 1,670 for AutoNation. 
The Who Rocks Facebook with Name That Riff
I’m not a big fan of the majority of available widgets, apps, and games that bombard Facebook. Most are garbage in my opinion, and do nothing other than clutter your profile or page.
The problem is many of these widgets were built with the old school marketing mentality of “if we build it, they will come.’”
The truth is, Facebook widgets fail for the following reasons:
- They provide zero value, and do nothing but act as bulletin boards for a product or brand.
- There is no level of engagement that relates to the user.
- They rely on a flashy gimmicky presence to create a viral whirlwind.
- The existing culture and loyalty of the brand was never taken into consideration.
So when I came across The Who’s Facebook game, Name That Riff, I was skeptical. Being a big Who fan, my concern was their game would fall into the above reasons of Facebook widget purgatory. That wouldn’t be the case.
Name That Riff works.
The game provides loyal fans an opportunity to show off their knowledge of The Who. The design is strong and fits in the visual identity the band has built since the 60’s. Most importantly the game is simple and doesn’t take much time.
- You are given 17 music clips to listen to.
- You must choose from 3 answers and have 30 seconds per clip.
- Like the bar quiz games, the quicker you answer, the more points you rack up.
- You are allowed three chances to improve your score.
This game picks songs from the entire Who archive. Also songs start at random places to throw you off. I fancy myself as a knowledgeable Who fan, but I tripped up at some of their selections. Once done you can publish your score on your profile and in your news feed. You can also compare your score with your friends on Facebook or globally.
The word of mouth aspect is very clever.
Players are urged to challenge their friends. Doing so opens up bonus rounds that you can play to improve your score. And unlike other apps that rely on you spamming random friends, you’ll want to share it with other Who fans.
The Creative Corporation, who built this game, did their homework, and it shows. They took into account, what fans of The Who love, their music. By providing a simple but entertaining widget that people will want to use and share, they are successful. It appears that Name That Riff was just released on TheWho.com, so it will be interesting to see how well it does.
Incidentally, if I happen to win the customized American Standard Stratocaster, I’ll let you know!