Best Buzz of the (Light)Year

Pixar has been at the forefront of animation technology for years, dominating the box office and raking in millions of dollars in revenue.

And anytime they crank out another movie, there's no shortage of expertly-produced commercials, merchandising opportunities and big name partnerships. The bottom line is Pixar doesn't need to be clever about their advertising...if they want you to know about their movie, they have the money to make it happen.

Maybe that's why I was pleasantly surprised by Pixar's viral effort to build some buzz for their upcoming Toy Story 3 movie.

The technologically-advanced studio went old school by creating a vintage, 1980's-style commercial for one of the new characters that will debut in the movie, complete with cheesy lines and (intentionally) poor video quality.

The viral video makes no reference to Pixar or Toy Story 3, simply focusing on the Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear toy, resulting in a string of comments on YouTube on whether the commercial was legitimate or not.

Therein lies the true genius of this viral video campaign, because it created a dialogue on the Internet and around the blogosphere.

Of course, we shouldn't expect fake, 80's-inspired viral videos to become a staple of movie advertising in the future, but Pixar's Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear commercial was definitely one of the more clever buzz-generating efforts I've seen in a while.

Susan Boyle’s Transparency and Why We’re All Eating It Up

Not only has Scotlander and powerhouse musical vocalist Susan Boyle been a perfect representation of humility over the past 10 days on YouTube, blogs and national TV shows, she has also been unknowingly preaching social media’s major tenet of building loyalty or fans: being natural.

In fact, Susan Boyle’s fans span all age groups. As we peruse comments on YouTube and blogs, you see moms talking about how their 8-year old daughter or son felt inspired by Boyle—or an unemployed husband-wife team now sees “hope” in the world again. Are these psychological, fabricated hope concoctions or are people truly being moved spiritually, emotionally, and mentally?

If 40+ million views on YouTube (based on combined total of all views on original and subsequent versions) can shed some light on the Boyle song event, I’d say it’s the biggest community reunion since 9/11, and it wasn’t founded on tragedy; rather, built upon a last-chance moment and a plea to see beyond the physical. At 47, you don’t see many taking such a sky dive like Boyle did, and that’s why we’re all eating this up. She’s David. The Mockers are Goliath, or should I say were.

Though, Boyle is still battling skeptics long after her angelic voice was first heard. Reports claim she lip-synced. Reports also claim the judges already knew what Boyle could vocally do and their reactions were bunk. I have to completely disagree with all this, because I don’t think contrived moments can make such impacts. A well-crafted, well-scripted 7-minute David vs. Goliath story can’t do it naturally. After all, the genuine article is what everyone wants to see conveyed whether on TV or in-person. Susan Boyle keeps it natural, and that’s why she’s the biggest viral success story—ever.

As the world of marketers continues to see that genuine articles are the key to viral spread, we might be waiting a while to see another great moment unscripted and unpolished.

P.S. Looks don't matter, heart does.

Can Numa Numa Guy and Geico Gecko Be Friends?

With more and more companies and brands getting involved in the social media space these days, marketers are trying hard to come up with new ways to engage the audience. Whether it's viral videos on YouTube, internet celebrity endorsements, or popular blogger outreach, brands have blurred the lines between company controlled messages and user-generated content.

Here's the latest video to makes its rounds on the web:


The Numa Numa guy has done stuff like this before (Pork and Beans with Weezer) and I believe that we will continue to see big companies working hard to tap into the social web for ways to get their brand in front of people.

Here's the question - Do company marketing and user-generated content really mix well? I can think of three camps of thought:

1. These videos are just plain fun and require no deep thought aside from their pure entertainment value. Numa Numa guy is funny and we love the dancing Gecko - bring on more of it.

2. These kinds of videos just feel like an awkward attempt to mix corporate advertising with viral user-generated content. They try too hard to be clever and don't really mix very well. Some in this group would even argue that this is the equivalent of selling out - these videos were never meant for this purpose. Think classic rock songs on car commercials.

3. Mixing corporate images with user-generated content does not get any real message across. Was 'Where the Hell is Matt?' successful? Extremely. Did it have anything to do with chewing gum? Nope. It's impossible to correlate the good feelings and fun these videos create with actual sales or growth, even if the video is extremely popular and company health and wealth improves in a year, therefore they are a waste of time, money, and effort for companies to make.

So where do you fall? Is there a category missing? Can corporate messages and marketing be mixed successfully with user-generated content?

Story Telling

"Eat at Java Street Cafe and pay what you think is a fair price." This creates a story and experience that people will share with their friends. It's innovative, unique, simple, and has the marketing built right in.

It's spreadable.

What kind of story are you telling? Are you creating products and services with the marketing built in, or are you creating confusing or frustrating stories that never take off?

Social Media Marketing Is Simple

Many are still afraid of social media. There are a lot of terms and ideas floating around that confuse people and can even make them panic. I want to start the new year off right by proposing an idea that sounds pretty simple:

The goal of social media marketing is the same as traditional media marketing - to spread ideas through word of mouth.

When working in the social media world (obviously not all social media should be used for marketing), the aim is to get people to talk about your product or brand. Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other social media platforms allow people to share ideas quickly. People talk about their interests and hobbies, which often include brands and products. Using social media for marketing aims to tap into the rich veins of discussion that will produce buzz and excitement around a brand.

The tools may be different, but most of the goals are very much the same:

• Make a great (good is not good) product that can stand on its own without spin that satisfies a consumer need.
  
• Customers will get excited and tell their friends about the product.
• Marketing can help, but real success comes through viral word of mouth a.k.a. the best and most desired form of marketing.

Yes, I am trying to simplify social media a bit for those still gripping to understand. Good ideas spread. Goal of social media marketing = word of mouth. Is this too simplified?

How to Creatively Sell Season Tickets

This is the most creative campaign I've seen to sell season tickets for any sports team...and it is coming from the Gonzaga Womens basketball team.

There isn't that much I can say about it without ruining it.

Check it out here.

Did Marketing for Saw 5 go too far?

I don't think so.

A new viral campaign for Saw 5 has prompted at least a few phone calls to police. The campaign lets you send a personalized voice message to anyone you want.

As long as it is used appropriately, I think this is a pretty smart marketing idea. The only problem they will run into is if people abuse it and end up harassing people.

Send out a message to a friend or coworker here.

Musicians always have the most creative marketing campaigns

Oasis have announced promotional plans for their new album.

From the article:
"The Manchester rockers announced they would unveil a handful of tracks from their forthcoming album by having street musicians perform them. The songs will be from their highly anticipated album Dig Out Your Soul, which is released in America on 7 October."

How great of an idea is that?

10 dumb viral marketing campaigns

This makes for a very entertaining read. Check out the 10 dumbest viral marketing campaigns here.

Then vote for which one is the dumbest here!