New Tricks for Green Marketers to Go Viral

It's no secret that the Green consumer loves to tell everyone how Green his life is. According to a 2007 Newsweek article, Honda customers left the company in droves, opting instead for the Toyota Prius because the Hondas just "didn't look Hybrid enough." (Honda plans to release a new hybrid in 09 -- as well as a 62 MPG diesel in 2010 -- that "will not be wrapped in the sheet metal of Honda's everyday cars. Instead, it will have the larva styling the Prius pioneered — which now embodies the green-car look.")

Now, I love that it's trendy to boast about small carbon footprints. Given the state of our planet, it's a great thing for the environment. But, let's not forget, it's a great thing for Green marketers too. The more consumers talk about new ways to stay Green, the more likely they'll be talking about our clients.

Recognizing this trend, a few eco-friendly brands, including Origins, North Face and Honest Foods have launched online platforms that reward consumers for engaging in various Green initiatives. These online communities allow people to submit their own content demonstrating their Greenness. Consumers can share their latest uploads through IM and email as well as by reviewing and rating each other's activities. Behaviors are rewarded with prizes for “most popular” or “most viral” entries.

Green marketers should consider employing a platform like this. Not only is it a great way to engage consumers, but the nature of these platforms is to drive viral reach. The company behind this technology is Brickfish, a social media platform that "taps into the power of consumer driven marketing ... providing brands and agencies with a single source solution to leverage the power of social media sites and user-generated content for truly effective online marketing efforts that drive awareness, analytics and action."

What gives Brickfish a leg up on other social media platforms (for the moment) is the reporting. The company provides a visualization of each viral campaign enabling marketers to understand how content is shared between users. And, they claim their "approach has proven to be 5 to 10 times more effective than traditional online marketing methods such as display ads or search optimization.”

Now, as is true with anything Internet - early adopters like Origins, North Face and Honest Foods will have a greater chance of capturing market share. As more and more brands develop their own viral/user-gen-content platforms, the idea will lose impact and, let's face it, there are only so many same-sites people want to visit. Either way, Green products lend themselves perfectly to viral marketing and kudos to Origins, North Face and Honest Foods for embarking on a solid approach.

-- my two cents

Viral Marketing Can Be Beautiful: Matt Harding and Stride's Global Dance

You know, folks, sometimes "viral" can be really beautiful.

I'm sure many of you have already heard about Matt Harding's "Dancing" video sensation. More than 4 million people have viewed his latest release on YouTube and, according to the New York Times, at least another million have watched it on other sites in the two weeks since it first appeared. It has also spawned unprecedented media coverage around the world.

The video consists of Harding dancing a rather silly dance in 69 different locations, including India, Kuwait, Bhutan, Tonga, Timbuktu, the Korean DMZ and, at the 3:22 mark, in my hometown of Atlanta. This is a beautiful piece of Internet art; I defy you to watch and not smile as your heart fills to the brim with global goodness. (article continues below)



The current video is actually the third installment of a project that began in 2003, when a friend filmed Mr. Harding doing his dance in Hanoi where he worked designing video games. The whole thing blossomed from there as Harding soon discovered he really didn't like working a 9 to 5. So, he took the money he'd saved and embarked on a trip around the world where he performed his little dance in various cities as a way to show his travels to friends and family back home. As I always say, it only takes one good blog to launch a campaign...soon a blogger got a hold of his first video and then another and another. The next thing he knew, he was an Internet sensation, even before YouTube made such a thing commonplace. (Harding told his story in this great clip posted last year).

Soon after that first video, the Stride Chewing Gum Company offered to underwrite Harding’s subsequent travels with virtually no strings attached. While I don't quite get the connection between Stride and Harding's delightful global jig, this is one case where I'm not entirely sure that matters. In fact, it is the lack of brand connection and product promotion that makes the tie-in work. As the NY Times points out "the company is acknowledged at the very end, but amazingly, in this era of shameless commercial tie-ins, Mr. Harding is not obliged to wear a Stride T-shirt or deliver a little pitch for the product."

Had there been a more blatant promotion, there is no way this vid would convey the magic that it does; the fact that Stride kept the artistic integrity of the original global project has brought them extensive praise. Again, to pull from the NY Times article: "you can’t watch “Dancing” for very long without feeling a little happier. The music ... is both catchy and haunting. The backgrounds are often quite beautiful. And there is something sweetly touching and uplifting about the spectacle of all these different nationalities, people of almost every age and color, dancing along with an uninhibited doofus."

Of course, the real question is: did it work? Harding's 2006 video saw more than 10 million views and delivered major spikes in web site traffic for Stride Gum, plus a reported 8% increase in sales, not to mention global media coverage and brand awareness. Today, Stride has become the 5th best-selling brand in the sugarless gum category, up from 6th place in in 2007, when it tallied sales of $65 million, according to IRI. Prior to its relationship with Harding, Stride didn't even register on IRI's list of 20 top-selling brands. Clearly, the goofy dance is moving the needle.

So, I say congrats to Harding and Stride for proving that viral can indeed be beautiful, tasteful, remarkably subtle, and highly effective.

-- my two cents

BRIEF UPDATE: Check out the Stride Gum site for some great outtakes that didn't make the cut. Some are beautiful, others are hilarious!

Some content pulled from the reporting of CHARLES McGRATH of the New York Times.

Nokia's Viral Campaign Confuses Consumers

Nokia has launched a new viral marketing campaign designed to take advantage of consumer curiosity. Unfortunately, the message is so obscure and the timing is so poor, it doesn't seem to be attracting much interest.

First, they began with a site called OpenAtOwnRisk.com which challenged consumers with "A secret that can now be found within Nokia Download service, allowing the public - you, to find the key and break the seals. And see..." There was no indication as to what the announcement would be, although one can assume it will be related to a new product, service or software.

The story they're telling began "hundreds of years ago when several royal families got together and created something so unnerving, it was locked up behind four seals." The instructions on how to break the seals have been hidden for generations. And, now the seals were to be broken, according to a hidden count down, around 101 hours from the initial site launch. In other words, today.

This morning the same URL contained a sly "notice of termination" letter that appears, at first glance, to be a genuine cease and desist order to the person who launched the site. But, the copy indicates the person behind the site will stand trial accused of "intent to publish content driving people insane." Obviously, this is not a real charge and is the next step in the campaign.

While the concept is clever, the execution of this campaign is flawed. There hasn't been a great deal of media coverage on it, even in the blogosphere. And, the coverage I have seen is largely confused by the campaign. Now, being confused is not necessarily a bad thing. Getting people asking each other what it is and what they think the announcement will be was clearly the goal here. But, Nokia has some things working against them in terms of really generating interest. First, the 101 hour countdown took place over a U.S. holiday (4th of July / Independence Day) when a lot of people were on the beach instead of online. Secondly, some bloggers and commenters on blogs are confused by the notice of termination letter. Many people, it seems, are not reading the letter closely enough to catch the joke of it and are, instead, dismissing the campaign entirely.

Clearly, the letter is designed to generate more anticipation and further the notion that whatever lies behind the seals is terribly strange. Unfortunately, the delay in showing this content is creating the opposite effect. People are losing interest.

I will keep you advised of new developments in the campaign. But, so far, it seems to be a good idea executed poorly.

-- my two cents

Converse Goes Viral with Wacky, Goofy, Funny Vids

Converse has launched a new viral campaign featuring more than a dozen rabbit holes and videos, some of which have absolutely nothing to do with the iconic shoes, or really, with anything at all. Some of them are clever and some are downright bizarre. Yet, each one does grab your attention. Rather than spoiling your fun by detailing all of them, I will just outline the ones that I think have the most potential.

Converse Spelling Bee, in which a shoe string leads the viewer on a search engine spelling bee. When you spell the word correctly in the search engine (i.e. Google), the ad on the right-hand side takes you to the next round. It's clever because it keeps you actively engaged in the game and subsequently, with the brand.

On A Shoe String Films, a compilation of hilarious videos in which some Converse shoe strings attend their first college class; go to a dance party; arrive early at the movies, play music; and list their grievances, among other things. Needless to say hilarity ensues. Plus, it's just goofy enough to get passed around. Truly, the voices behind these shoe strings are some of the funniest people online.

I'm still not sure what At Least You're Not Lost At Sea For 13 Days has to do with the brand, but the video did get a chuckle from me - particularly the bit about the golf club membership. And, there are different videos for different days covering this man's adventures lost at sea - again - to keep you watching and anticipating the next round.

As odd as some of the sites/vids are, this campaign is brilliant in my book because "odd" gets people talking just as much as funny or controversial. The mere fact that I have no idea why someone would put their Chucks in Soda makes me want to send the link to everyone I know...and tune in for more.

It's a great example of good viral that is silly, wacky and is not overtly selling the shoes -- or in some cases -- selling anything at all. The only thing missing is audience participation. You get a little of that with the spelling bee, but I hope there is a second stage that brings the viewer into the campaign a bit more. That said, check them out and let me know what you think.

And, remember when things aren't going your way, Converse understands you just wanna know Is Everything Going to be Okay?

-- my two cents

Great Viral Video from LastMinute.com

Any fans of the 80s TV show Fame? Man o man did I love that show when I was a kid. Just the idea that you could miss class because the whole school was immersed in a song-and-dance routine thoughout the halls was enough for me to want to attend. "Sorry, teacher, I couldn't make it on time; Danny just dumped Julie and she wasn't sure she could get through her audition this afternoon, so we had to sing and dance her confidence back."

Well, lastminute.com has created a hilarious viral video called "Unexpected Performance" that harks back to the "spontaneous" song-and-dance (much like ImrovEverywhere's Food Court Musical).



The vid was filmed at a London airport where seven hidden cameras brilliantly capture the unsuspecting crowd's reactions when a member of the cleaning crew breaks into song about her desire for crisps (US translation: potato chips). One by one, she is joined by other pitch-perfect singers and dancers and suddenly, folks have their own Broadway-style show smack in the middle of the terminal. It's sort of like a well-organized flash mob (remember those), but with talented participants. The vid finishes with a sign asking: "When is the last time you went to the theatre?" And, another explaining: "Get 50% off theatre tickets at lastminute.com."

Now, this really is more advertising than a full-on viral campaign, but I can't resist talking about it here because it fits all the key necessities of a good viral video.

Transparency. Right from the start, it sets things up by announcing the hidden cameras, the "undercover" actors and an "unexpected performance." And, of course, by the time you see the closing, you get the whole point of the ad. Nobody is trying to pretend it's real.

Compelling Content. The performances are good and the crowd's confused reactions are priceless.

It's relevant to the brand. The whole video is completely relevant. The song sounds like something you'd hear on Broadway; the crowd is fun to watch; the performance makes sense once you see the marketing message; and if I were heading to NYC and saw this in the airport with that 50% off tag, I'd definitely check out lastminute.com to see what's showing.

It's generating buzz. As of this writing 170,662 people have watched it and are discussing it on YouTube. And, bloggers like me sure are talking about it.

So, this is a great example of a good viral video. Simple. Compelling. Transparent. Relevant.

If there is more to follow (i.e. sites, rabbit holes, easter eggs, and additional vids), then I'd officially call it a viral marketing campaign. But, even as a stand-alone ad-vid, it works. So, well done lastminute.com. You won my business.

-- my two cents

Marketers Increase Social Media Spending

According to the results of a recent survey carried out by the Online Marketing and Media Show (OMMS), marketers are still spending their online budgets on search, email and pay-per-click. However, they are no longer opening their wallets for traditional banner advertising, and instead they're making room for social media and viral marketing.

The survey was targeted at exhibitors and delegates who will be attending the OMMS 2008 event which takes place on June 24th and 25th.

Overall, according to the survey, online marketing spends continue to increase, with over a third of all survey respondents revealing that up to 25% of their marketing budget will be dedicated purely to online marketing and media this year. This is a 15% increase over predicted spend in 2007.

Measuring response, SEO and online campaign planning were identified as the top three priority areas for understanding and education. Certainly this seems right on, in terms of client meetings I've had recently. While folks seem keenly interested in viral/social campaigns, there is still a great deal of education needed to demonstrate method and value. Despite the current lack of understanding in these areas, the study indicates that marketers are reluctant to outsource the development of their online strategy. Less than half of respondents indicated that they plan on working with a digital agency in the next 12 months.

Sally Maltby, Event Director for OMMS 2008 comments "Marketers want to invest their marketing budget where they can get tangible, clear results. Historically, SEO and pay-per-click campaigns have been the leaders for this reason. Now marketers want to engage with their audience beyond the first click. As the industry starts seeing improved measurement tools in place for social media, marketers will begin experimenting and investing more online."

The survey also revealed that 75% of respondents generate more accountable return on investment from their online marketing and media activity than their more traditional marketing tools. In line with the majority of respondents recognizing online and social media as an area for growth, 62% said they would be comfortable advertising their brand on a social networking site.

If you read my blog, you know one of the things I love about new/social media is the immediate ROI that can be measured. Clearly, others are coming around to this notion. But, it seems we still need to do more to educate our clients on the value of these tactics.

Michael Nutley, Editor in chief of New Media Age and OMMS conference producer said, "We've seen from the survey results that marketers want to extend their understanding of new marketing tools before trying them out. Marketers want to engage their audiences more fully, but are unclear of how to do it from tactics to measurement."

As I've said before, we need embrace the convergence of viral marketing and PR and do more to educate our clients - and each other - on the best ways to demonstrate the value of these strategies.

-- my two cents

MarketingSherpa's 08 Viral Hall of Fame

Marketing Sherpa just released their Hall of Fame Viral Marketing Inductees for 2008. A little early to close the book on this year's viral wins, in my view. But, it's a great list nonetheless. Below is a brief look at their top picks, as well as the "common threads" they noticed running through the campaigns.

Common Threads in Winning Viral

Rise of social media - Most of this year’s candidates sent videos to YouTube, created Facebook pages or organized communities on MySpace -- or all of the above.

Peer-to-peer sharing is critical - There were two distinct groups in this year’s entries: fantastically thought-out campaigns and wacky content. Either way, success hinged on peer-to-peer sharing.

All hail mighty content - You’ve heard the adage -- we’re not even going to say it -- but all it took for some campaigns to go wildly viral was great content.

So, without further introduction, here are MarketingSherpa’s Viral Marketing Hall of Fame inductees for 2008:

VIBE Media Group
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: This VIBE contest drove young and hip viewers to an urban music and culture website. Participants in an online rap music contest created and submitted videos to be voted on by the VIBE community. They received MySpace widgets to share their videos with friends and drive voters to http:/ /www.vibe.com where they could interact, view and vote on more entries. VIBE saw an 800% ROI on their efforts and captured 60,000 new registered members.

General Mills’ Pink for the Cure
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Bolstering the battle against breast cancer, General Mills launched this campaign to spread hopeful stories of those touched by the disease. An elaborate MySpace page was created and partnerships were formed with celebrities and a network of breast cancer survivors and activists. Visitors could share their stories, comment and download badges and backgrounds for their own pages. The campaign reached more than 2.7 million people, gained thousands of MySpace friends and received great feedback from participants.

Sporting Portugal
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Sporting Portugal created a website that let users submit their name and telephone number to become part of an interactive ad. A video showing a well-known soccer coach stressing out in a locker room ended with a phone call to the submitted number with the coach encouraging the visitor to come to the stadium because “the team needs you.” The idea attracted plenty of blog coverage and more than 610,000 people to the site in two weeks. The all-time record for season ticket sales was shattered on the first day of the season.

Pazazz’s Printing’s Alive
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Pazazz’s edgy video shows that viral success is possible without breaking the bank. Pazazz wanted to convey its love for printing by making people laugh, and this 3-1/2-minute video does just that on a shoestring budget. Seeding consisted of an email to Pazazz’s house list, a YouTube video, links on Facebook and LinkedIn and press releases to industry publications. The video has received 133,000 views and more than 20 requests for a high-resolution copy to show at conferences and corporate events, plus a speaking gig for the CEO at major conference.

Columbia Sportswear’s Tested Tough
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Columbia Sportswear built its brand in this campaign by asking customers to test just how tough the outdoor-wear firm’s products are. Customers were invited via email, display ads and contest websites to brutalize Columbia’s products, tell the tale and send photos and videos of the action. Visitors to the contest site could view, vote and comment on entries. Columbia received more than 3,000 entries. The projected response rate was surpassed by more than 33%.

VeriSign’s Liberty Fillmore, the Cart Whisperer
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Ask any eretailer: abandoned shopping carts are a challenge. And nobody cares more about that challenge than Liberty Fillmore the Cart Whisperer. Internet infrastructure provider VeriSign created a series of fun videos featuring the fictitious Liberty Fillmore, who teaches that website shopping cart abandonment is preventable. The campaign included submissions to YouTube, a MySpace page, a Facebook page and a website for Fillmore’s poetry, videos and contest. The videos delivered a heap of blog coverage and more than three million views on YouTube.

THQ’s Frontlines: Fuel of War
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Looking to promote a new video game, THQ launched this campaign using a microsite, contest and social media. Participants’ chances to win increased with the number of friends they recruited to enter. PPC promotion mixed with some “shoe leather” work at a gaming conference helped to bring this campaign 70% more registered contestants than hoped for.

StyleFeeder
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Social networks are fertile ground for viral seeds. Facebook users, for instance, love applications and are quick to share them with friends. StyleFeeder had this in mind when it created a product suggestion app for Facebook to expand its user base. Less than a year after launch, the app passed the milestone of 1 million installations.

Northwestern Mutual Insurance’s Letyourworriesgo.com
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: This Northwestern Mutual Insurance campaign encouraged microsite visitors to “let it go.” Visitors to the interactive page could select concerns, such as financial troubles or illness, and dispose of them via catapult, rocket, submarine or hot air balloon. The microsite leveraged a tell-a-friend feature and could be shared on social media sites, such as Digg and Del.icio.us. By the third month of the campaign, the site’s traffic was 213% higher than Northwestern Mutual’s total microsite traffic for 2007.

McKinney’s Snowglobe Boy
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Sometimes elaborate tactics aren’t required to stimulate a viral response; all it takes is one great idea. Ad agency McKinney’s idea was to take holiday ecards to a new level by putting an employee inside a giant inflatable snow globe for four days and broadcasting it on a microsite 24 hours a day. Visitors could receive “season’s greetings” from Snowglobe Boy and chat with him. In a week, a small seed of a Facebook page, a YouTube video and about 1,000 emails to McKinney’s friends attracted about 50,000 unique visitors, network press coverage and lots of search traffic.

(content courtesy of Marketing Sherpa)

Microsoft Vies for Hipper Image with PR Stunt

Consumers tend to associate “creative” with Mac and “corporate” with Microsoft, a brand position which Apple has brilliantly and consistently fostered since the infamous 1984 commercial. Now, with a new social media PR campaign, Microsoft aims to change that perception.

Here’s the break down:

It’s an online movie-making contest called Ultimate Video Relay aiming to improve Windows Vista’s reputation, particularly for the higher-end version of Vista Ultimate.

Director, Kyle Newman began the story with a six minute clip called "The Cube" that some are calling a cross between The Matrix and The Office.

The clip has an abrupt and incomplete ending. Contestants are supposed to finish the story by creating a second and third act using Vista Ultimate and site visitors will judge the best submissions.

To execute the campaign, Microsoft partnered with TriggerStreet, the online production company owned by Kevin Spacey. TriggerStreet and Microsoft were brought together by Omelet, a Los Angeles advertising company that focuses on entertainment-based campaigns.

Of course, it’s always risky to invite consumers to create content around your brand. Remember Chevy’s 2006 call for consumers to create a new online spot for the Tahoe? Most of the ads people created highlighted the Tahoe's fuel in-efficiency and subsequent damage to the environment.

Clearly Microsoft is hoping by starting the story, consumers will pick up where they left off. I assume they are also counting on the association with Spacey to lend credibility and spark interest from genuine aspiring screenwriters and filmmakers who want their talents noticed. Of course, talents can get noticed in a well-done negative piece too.

“One of the things that makes me feel O.K. about this,” said Barry Goffe, director for Windows client product management at Microsoft, “is that we’re not asking people to write a script that says ‘Windows Vista Ultimate is great’ or romances technology.” Rather, he added, the idea is to create content that in its tone would mirror the lighthearted approach of Act I of "The Cube."

Given the number of complaints and reports about Vista glitches, it’s definitely a risky move. But, at least Microsoft is transparent in their goals and it is a clever way to tell consumers that Windows has movie-making apps too -- something I certainly don't associate with the brand. So, we'll see how it shakes out. I will keep you posted, and if you hear of anything new, please let me know!

-- my two cents

Pontiac’s Interactive Scavenger Hunt Falls Flat

It’s a mad mad mad mad mad world for GM Canada as they’ve concluded a three-city interactive campaign for the new Pontiac Vibe called “Catch the Vibe.” But, in my view, this campaign was hardly worth the cost and effort. Here’s the breakdown:

A cross-country scavenger hunt fueled by Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr; plus e-mails, online ads, video clips, blogs, wikis, and text messages.

The campaign consisted of two-person teams, each driving a Vibe.

So far, it’s not unlike past campaigns: Budget’s 2005 16-city treasure hunt or Volvo’s 2007 buried car treasure hunt (a Pirates of the Caribbean tie-in), for example.

What’s so unusual is that each team is made up of journalists, 96 in total, covering their efforts as they raced around town to complete bizarre tasks and search for objects. They were given a Pearl 8130 to help search for clues and complete challenges like taking a picture in front of a church with red doors, or a shot of a participant hugging a cop. Points were given to teams who recruited people to cheer for them on the site.

The Vibe's online campaign site attracted around 4,000 unique visitors and in excess of 2,000 registered online team supporters since the event began on March 24.

Hardly a success, in my book. The math alone speaks volumes: 96 participating journalists and 2,000 registered supporters. Sounds like friends and family to me. Consider that Volvo’s campaign had more than 32,000 participants and over a million site visitors. Budget saw nearly 50,000 participants. And, both of those campaigns were directly linked to increased sales/rentals and dealership traffic.

The thing is most of these reporters automatically test-drive new vehicles. So, GM didn’t really gain anything by limiting the campaign to media. In fact, they may have hurt their launch because instead of writing about the car and its features, participating journalists wrote about the goofy things they were made to do; and – in some cases – reported on how much they love the Pearl (see paragraph 3 under Mathieu Lapointe). Sure, they had fun on GM’s dime, but writing about collecting coins and finding three vibrating objects doesn’t really boost Pontiac’s bottom line. And, nothing better exemplifies this aspect of the blunder than a quote from Chris Chase of Candian Driver, "Unfortunately, I didn't get to drive the Vibe at all (not even around the block), so I haven't a clue how it handles or feels. But, I had a good amount of time in the passenger seat -- which is fairly comfortable."

Some of the journalists invited to participate don’t cover cars at all. I can understand the notion that getting someone like Ellen Mizra, a freelance beauty writer, to post about her scavenger hunt adventures might introduce the car to her readers. But really…if I’m reading about beauty products, I’m not so sure a report about Ellen’s difficulty blow-drying her hair in public will sell many vehicles.

I don’t get why consumers weren’t brought into this campaign. The ultimate goal is to sell cars. You do that by getting the buyer in the vehicle. In fact, at about 1:37 in this clip, a representative from this campaign specifically says, "the target market is the 25-35 year old who lives in social media." Okay, so why not include that target in your campaign? It's like they forgot the "social" part of social media. Campaigns like this are about participation, involvement, community. GM approached this like old-school media where people sit around reading about the exploits of others. Had GM allowed average folks to participate, even as part of the journalists’ teams, they could have introduced the Vibe to potential customers. Seems to me this was much ado for nothing.

Then, again, this is just my two cents …

When Marketing Becomes PR

I’ve been asked a lot lately about the blurring lines between marketing and PR. It’s certainly true what was once a clear and distinct difference is now more of a hazy smudge and (of course) I have a theory as to why.

In traditional marketing, you speak directly to the customer.

In traditional PR, you speak to the customer through the media.

But, today, the customer IS the media.

Today, the customer is out there reporting on his experiences with your brand. Perhaps, he's writing a blog about a new laptop. Maybe, she's scrawling on a Facebook wall about a PDA; or making a video for YouTube documenting the purchase of a first car. Maybe your customer is posting on boards about walking out of a home improvement store because she couldn’t find a single person on the floor to help her despite pressing that useless call button for assistance! (I’m just saying it could happen.)

Bottom line, customers are online telling the story behind their brand experience. And, isn’t that what PR is all about? Getting others to tell the story you want.

Look at viral campaigns. Mainstream media, bloggers, and the average customer make viral marketing work because they report on it. They're not just talking about the product; they're talking about how they learned about the product and the marketing concept behind it (including the pitching style of publicists.) The campaign itself becomes the story.

Because of this, it has never been more important for marketers and PR pros to converge strategies and allow one tactic to feed the other, to blend into each other, creating news that stands on its own; news that spawns more news as the campaign grows.

We need to embrace this convergence and speak to the customer the way we would a reporter -- give them a story to tell. We need to engage the customer in the brand and make the journey of the purchase as much the story as the purchase itself. Because like it or not, it already is.

-- my two cents

Blogger Gets Book Deal Through Viral-PR Success

If you've ever doubted the legitimacy of the blog itself, the power of viral marketing as a PR tactic, or the value of bloggers as media contacts, you’ll want to read today’s post.

First week of January 08: Chris Lander, an internet copy writer, launched a tongue-in-cheek site called Stuff White People Like which pokes fun at Caucasian stereotypes. (A favorite entry of mine is “The No. 1 reason white people like not having a TV, is so they can tell you that they don’t have a TV.” Priceless.

Mid-January: The blog moved virally as friends passed the link to each other online and Stuff White People Like saw about 200 hits a day.

End of January: Bloggers picked it up and the publicity buzz began with site visitors jumping to 4,000/day in just 1 week.

Early February: Quoting bloggers, morning drive-time radio and online media talked about Lander's site, delivering 100,000 unique visitors a day.

Mid-February: Wired Magazine, The LA Times and various others reported on the blog’s content and, six weeks from launch, daily visitors hit 300,000.

End of February: The hosts of NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” debated whether the site is racist or satire, spawning more media coverage, and Stuff White People Like sees 1.5 million hits.

March 20: Random House announced a book deal for Lander with a paperback scheduled for release in August. Reports put the deal at around $300,000, an unheard of sum for a book spawned from a blog, written by a previously unpublished author.

Now, I’ve always said, the beauty of the web is it allows business to move at the speed of information. This book deal is living proof. In what other medium can one become a global success and a published author in three short months? It’s phenomenal.

And, apparently, it’s the new trend.

The site I Can Has Cheezburger, which features lolcats, (photos of animals with humorous, ungrammatical captions) debuted in January 2007. Three months later, the site had 1.6 million page views and literary agents were calling. After a bidding war, Gotham Books won the deal and the first book hits shelves this November.

The creator of the Skull-A-Day blog, a blog which features images of skulls made from candy, sparklers and other stuff, has a book deal for an October release.

And, the best seller “Julie and Julia,” about a woman who cooked one Julia Child recipe a day, started out as a blog. Likewise, “The Hipster Handbook,” spawned from freewilliamsburg.com in 2003, has sold 39,000 paperbacks, according to Nielsen BookScan.

So, the blogger legitimacy question has taken a new twist as literary agents are now scouring blogs for their next big deal. And, to that I’d like to say, I can be reached through the "Contact Me" links above.

-- my two cents

Holy Viral Marketing, Batman!

In January, I pondered the future of The Dark Knight’s viral marketing/PR campaign after the tragic loss of Heath Ledger. As you may recall, a Hollywood pal of mine confided that he hoped it would continue as planned since, as he said, it would knock my socks off.

At that point, all we'd seen were some teaser posters and texts from Ledger’s character, The Joker.

Well, the second phase of The Dark Knight’s campaign has rolled out and I have to hand it to the folks at 42 Entertainment (to whom Warners subcontracted the marketing), this is undeniably the most comprehensive viral marketing campaign I have ever seen. It was precisely crafted for the fanboy/comic book geek crowd and they are eating it up. The media coverage has been staggering and I imagine it will continue to the film’s release this summer.

Here’s a run-down the rabbit-hole that is The Dark Knight's promotional strategy:

Faux Politics
The new issue of The Gotham Times has been posted and the Harvey Dent campaign website has announced that Harvey is running for DA. The campaign site lacks any references to Batman. In fact, as someone not familiar with the depths of Batman lore, when I first saw the graffiti-laden posters in a theater window display a few months ago, I thought Dent was a movie in its own right and went online seeking it out. The faux political site urges "concerned Gotham citizens" to "take back Gotham City" by backing Dent and organizing faux grass-roots rallies, filming videos and coming out to meet the Dentmobile touring target cities.

Rowdy Real-World Rallies
Further blending the lines between fact and fiction, on March 12, a rally for the fictional DA candidate was broken up by very real and very confused police. Fans had come out to meet the Dentmobile and when police arrived to remove the crowds, the cops seemed genuinely bewildered by volunteers handing out Harvey Dent bumper stickers, buttons and T-shirts.

Opponent Sites
Of course, what would a political campaign be without opponents? Roger Garcetti, acting DA of Gotham City, and Dana Worthington, founder of the Gotham Victims Advocate Foundation have joined in the fray. More info for her can be found at DanaWorthington.com.

Faux News Coverage
Other Gotham-related sites include a Drudge Report mimic called Maiden Avenue Report.

New sites for more Gotham City services including GothamCableNews.com, SaintsWithunsChurch.org and GothamCab.com have also launched. And, of course, there is the CitizensForBatman.org site.

Texts and Voicemails
Harvey Dent and The Joker are using text messages and voicemails to communicate with their supporters.

ARGs
Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) including scavenger-hunts and role-playing are also in the mix: a page appeared at whysoserious.com/steprightup with a hammer game and some teddy bear toys. Each toy had an address on it located in a number of cities around the US. The note on the game told people to go to that address and say their name was "Robin Banks” (robin' banks, that’s pretty funny!) and to await further instructions. What they were given was a cake with a phone number written on it. Now here's the best part: inside the cake was an evidence bag (complete with Gotham City Police printing) that contained a cell phone, a charger, a Joker playing card and a note with instructions.

Red Herrings
Various red herring sites have launched to throw people off the trail in the ARGs. I don't know if these are created by the 42 Entertainment or by fans who are playing the game; it's just part of the beauty of the whole thing!

Plot-Point Sites
Another website, www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com provides teasers about some connection between the Joker and Two Face that I assume will be explained in the film. (Maybe it’s already known. Again, I’m rusty on my comic book lore.)

ComicCon Tie-Ins
Well aware of their core audience, the marketers put it all out there at San Diego’s Comicon with specially defaced dollar bills with yet another web site’s url. On the site The Joker offered fans the chance to become his henchmen with special prizes for those willing to carry out his demands. These players gathered at a set location (offline) to obtain a phone number that was written in the sky by a plane! From there, they embarked on an elaborate scavenger hunt around the city.

Faux Kidnappings
The Comicon promo ended with a fan being abducted by "thugs" in a Cadillac Escalade and getting symbolically "murdered" by armed men who mistook the player for the Joker.

Whew! So, fellow PR pro/marketer -- what did YOU do today?

Some colleagues have said this is overkill and that by the time the movie hits this summer, people will be sick of it after all this hype. (The campaign began nearly a year ago.) But, the power here is that you have to seek these sites out. You have to be the kind of person who wants to run around town in a text-based scavenger hunt and look up in the sky for clues. For the comic book audience, I cannot imagine a better fantasy come true than to play with the superheroes and villains they love so much. Well done 42 Entertainment! You've set the bar into the stratosphere and made The Blair Witch campaign look like a pageboy hollering, "extra! extra!" on the street corner.

-- my two cents

"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" Viral Campaign Hits a Homerun

There’s nothing like blurring the lines between reality and fiction when creating a viral campaign. Add a little bit of mystery forcing your audience to seek out the story and you’ve got a homerun in my book. Take Universal’s new campaign for the movie, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

It began with vague billboards and banner ads citing random phrases like “My mom always hated you Sarah Marshall” and “You DO look fat in those jeans, Sarah Marshall.” A simple url on the banners was the only clue for the curious.

The url, www.IHateSarahMarshall.com brings you to Peter Bretter’s blog. Peter (played by Jason Segel in the film) explains in his blog entries that he was dumped by Sarah and vows to blog about her every day. The posts are spot-on in their ingenuity and authenticity, right down to Peter insisting he’s not the one calling Sarah at night and hanging up, so she should stop spreading those lies. Beautiful. Pure high school. (Granted, the movie's characters are in their mid-20s, but the sentiment and target audience is not.)

In the film, Sarah (played by Kristen Bell) stars in a crime show on TV. I was thrilled to see on that Universal has launched a “fan site” for Sarah and the show Crime Scene. Questions are raised on the site about her new single status. And, Universal promises more blogs and sites to come.

It's great to see this kind of creativity again. I particularly love the ambiguity of the ads. A few years back I had a lot of fun and success with a curiosity-driven movie campaign and I found the less information I put out there, the more conversation I could spark online. And, that's what it's all about.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall hits theaters April 18th. I will keep you posted as the campaign grows and media coverage builds. Congratulations to everyone at Universal!

-- my two cents

Viral Marketing, Bloggers and Instant Celebrity

Today, I learned about John Fitzgerald Page. While I am loathe to contribute to his newfound Internet celebrity, the whole story is a fascinating study of viral marketing, the power of bloggers, and why people/marketers must embrace these new voices online. Therefore, please forgive me for adding another notch to this non-celebrity's publicity belt.

If you don’t know the story, here’s the skinny.

1. John Fitzgerald Page was/is on Match.com.

2. A woman “winked” at him.

3. He sent her a form-letter in which he boasted his accomplishments: high rise condo, Ivy League school, big money career, etc. He then asked her how much she weighs and if she works out regularly. (To his credit, he did acknowledge the rudeness of the inquiry.)

4. The woman clicked “no thanks” so Match.com sent him a polite note saying “thanks but we’re not a good match based on personality.”

5. Instead of leaving it at that. John sent her a nasty email stating that since she rejected him, she must be fat. He goes on at length to insult her and describe himself and his "caliber" including how much he can bench press.

6. She sent his email to a few friends. They sent it on to other friends and so on and so on…

7. Soon, the blog Gawker.com (which covers "media, gossip and pop culture") got a hold of it and ran the story.

8. It spread like wildfire with bloggers because well, let’s face it – his arrogance is funny and everyone loves a good villain.

9. Now, I always say, major media follow-the-lead of bloggers. True to form, soon the AJC, CNN, FoxNews, CBS and the NYT interviewed him.

Today, John is reveling in Internet stardom. He is releasing his own online videos, putting together book deals and a 20-city tour, all the while securing as much publicity as he can, while he can. He has even become an official escort selling dates for $250-$500 a pop proving in this age of hyper-voyeurism, anybody can be famous, if they want to be.

Certainly none of this is newsworthy. And, I do feel a bit smarmy talking about it here. But the whole story is another example of the speed of viral content online and why people/companies should embrace bloggers. As Target learned, bloggers have the luxury of writing what they want and with each blog linked to another blog, content moves like lightning.

So, bottom line: Bloggers can be a marketer/publicist's (and even a guy trying to find love) greatest advocate or greatest annoyance -- which one is entirely up to you and how much publicity you really want.

-- my two cents

Marketers More Accepting of New Media

Guideline recently asked B2B and B2C marketers to rate the effectiveness of various online marketing tactics.

Almost all marketers surveyed used some form of social media. However, business marketers reported more success with podcasts:

21% of B2B vs. 13% of B2C listed podcasts as "effective"
17% of B2B vs. 6% of B2C favored blogs, and
14% of B2B vs. 11% of B2C preferred RSS feeds

As you know, I’m a big fan of using Second Life for promotion and it seems B2B marketers are starting to catch on with 8% of business marketers rating Second Life as an effective new media platform, while consumer marketers had either not tried it or the sample size was too small to include. As I’ve mentioned previously, I think B2C marketers are missing a major opportunity by ignoring Second Life. This virtual world has so permeated our society, while reading Dean Koontz’s latest book the other day, I was amazed to discover the double-life Koontz's villain described leading was actually in Second Life. With members in the millions spending real dollars in this fake world, brand owners should really take a second look at “lifers.”

No surprise, the most common online marketing too in the B2B world is the blog—although I’m surprised to see the adoption rate of corporate blogging is still so small. Fact is, if you want to position yourself as a subject matter expert, a properly linked, digged and lensed blog will take you farther than just about any other method today.

About one-quarter of B2B marketers surveyed had tried a viral or participatory ad campaign, while 29% sponsored an online community or discussion site. Also in the study, B2B and B2C marketers revealed they were unsure how emerging vehicles such as blogs, games, social networks, virtual worlds, widgets and wikis would actually influence potential customers.

Clearly, we need to publish more ROI on the subject because – as many of you have heard me say – the immediate metrics captured in online marketing makes it the most effective promotional tool today. Never before has so much real-time information been available to us. The opportunities to play are there. According to Forrester, 53% of marketers surveyed anticipate increasing their overall marketing budget this year, and, of those, the average increase in spending expected is 28%.

However, there is a still a fear of new media here. Although the survey found more marketers used e-mail, search and webinars in 2007, B2B has a long way to go in terms of the transformation to digital media. Blogs, online video, podcasts and other emerging media were used by only about a third of survey participants.

Report author Laura Ramos, a VP at Forrester says, “There's still a perception that it's expensive and difficult to do online video, or create rich interactive applications that demonstrate your product and tell your story. Rich media is well suited for B2B because of the high-consideration product sales and the long sales cycle. It is a medium that is interactive, that is visual and auditory, and more engaging to the visitor and [which] may tap into their emotions and their motivations better than other media."

The onus is on marketers and PR practitioners to demonstrate the value of online marketing to our clients and corporate leaders. So, let’s get our metrics out there and move that needle for corporate adoption!

-- my two cents

New Media Equals New Voters

When I arrived at the polls yesterday morning, I was shocked by the massive crowd that had already assembled. As I took my place in line I was immediately swept up by the party atmosphere; the music, the shouting, the excitement…and the kids. For a split second I thought I was in a line for American Idol auditions or Hanna Montana tickets. Surely, these college students did not drag themselves out of bed at 7:45 in the morning to vote!

But, in fact, what I witnessed was seen across the country in nearly all 22 primaries held yesterday.

So why the surge in younger voters? Some could argue the issues drove kids to the polls yesterday. An unpopular war, for example, is a great motivator. But, then again, we were at war during the last election too and we didn’t see anywhere near these numbers. Since I was in for a long wait, I started chatting with the kids and was astonished to hear them talk about the candidates’ positions on major issues – in some cases they were better informed than I was.

Naturally, I wanted to know their sources. Of course, many of them referenced traditional outlets like CNN, NPR, and MTV’s Rock the Vote. But, then they started talking about new media. The more sites they named, the more I wondered how much of an impact social networking, viral marketing and blogs had to do with this re-energizing of the youth vote.

Technorati reports there are currently 542,343 blogs covering U.S. politics with more than 15,000 subscribers each. Likewise, a Google Blog Search for "U.S. politics" yields a list of 858,482 blogs and that number excludes those not linked to Google’s search engine.

But is it just blogging that brought kids to the polls?

Declare Yourself, a non-partisan youth voting initiative encompassing everything from viral videos, podcasts, text alerts and surveys to traditional on-campus visits, registered more than 250,000 voters for the 2008 campaign. The site also features links to social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.

And, speaking of social networking, Facebook introduced an application (co-sponsored with ABC News) where users have access to up-to-date political news, polls and video -- a full-media RSS feed, if you will. More than one million Facebook users added the application to their profile, and more than 300,000 have participated in at least one online debate group, according to a news release from Facebook.

Kids are also taking it upon themselves to make their voices heard with user-initiated Facebook groups started for each candidate, the largest being "One Million Strong For Obama," with more than 445,000 members. Not to be outdone, MySpace launched MySpace Impact, a Web site featuring links to candidates' profiles, as well as polling and registration information. It also includes featured blog posts from its users and boasts more than 334,761 members.

MTV – always a staple in youth voter registration – launched think.mtv.com which enlisted 23 amateur journalists to cover primary results with podcasts and blogs sent from their mobile phones. I love the genuine viewer-to-brand interaction this initiative creates and clearly, I'm not alone with nearly a million new voters registered through the site.

The Republican party is not without their own online intiatives. Mike Huckabee has tapped into youth culture with the popular Christian Web site, The Rebelution from which Huckabee enlisted The Harris Brothers who started Huck's Army, to organize grassroots efforts for Huckabee's campaign resulting in 100,000 members.

The result: Under-30 voter turnout yesterday was up 42 percent over the primaries of 2004, according to the AP. And, granted, it’s not scientific, but my little straw poll of the kids waiting in line with me yesterday all said they made their decisions based on what they found online.

So, once again, if you want to connect with the youth market – whether you’re selling soda, games, movies, toys, or freedom - you cannot afford to ignore new media.

-- my two cents

Finally, Good Movie Viral Marketing!

I've been quite disappointed with the lack of creativity in viral movie marketing since the brilliance of the Blair Witch campaign.

The new Diane Lane thriller "Untraceable" about a killer who uses a web site to get his kicks is a good example of why. I went to the site expecting a great viral campaign -- especially since it was created to appear as if it belongs to the murderer in the film -- only to find it offers nothing more than memory games