It takes vision to create a campaign. And going the viral way takes more than just vision. It takes heart, mind and soul. No wonder it is a tricky affair and failure is a dark shadow.
“I was recently watching the trailers for the upcoming movie ‘I love you, Beth Cooper’, about a valedictorian who confesses his love for the most popular girl in school during his graduation speech and this inspired me to make a confession of my own. Given that this is the last day of high school and not knowing what can happen, I cannot let this opportunity just pass by. So here it goes…I love you, Jake Minor.”
Kenya Meija was hired by 20th Century Fox, paid $1800, to close her valedictory address at Los Angeles’s Alexander Hamilton High School. Fox hired consultants to videotape her speech, keeping the production values low so as to make it look authentic. The video was then posted on YouTube. Hardly anyone saw the clip, and the same was the movie. It took in just $13.5 million in its first three weeks, which was $6 million less the production cost.
Only after a Wall Street Journal (July 28th) highlighted the ploy’s spectacular failure was attention generated and all who saw the clip online with the consensus being, “it sucks”.
“Eh Go Canada Go”
“I became a [Face book] fan of this just to say how stupid it is. No company is going to tell me how to cheer. I don’t need a sports cheer marketed”, wrote Facebook member Jeff. Jeff was not alone though. Many more Canadians shared his view than those otherwise.
Pepsi wanted to get a million people to sign up for “Cheer Nation”, a viral chant campaign it had come up with. It involved submissions, revisions and votes to come up with a chant as a cheer.
While the number of people who signed up was just a little shy of 94,000 the Face book page benefited from a glut of new fans, most of who criticized the campaign. There might be several reasons for the failure of the campaign. In the same land where Pepsi had failed, Joe’s statement on behalf of Molson, “I am Canadian” was a wild success culminating in a refreshed identity (at least among the beer drinkers) and a rush of tattoo appointments to have the statement etched permanently onto the bodies of thousands of patriots.
So what is it that differentiates a successful campaign from a failure?
Orabrush, a home run
Robert Wagstaff blew $50,000 on infomercials and pitches to dentists about his bad breath battling brush. But none of it came to his rescue. What did, however, was YouTube.
Robert put up a humorous video about his brush on YouTube and it was a sensation. It has over 24 million views and has led to millions in Orabrush sales. Thanks to the success, drug stores are stocking shelves with Orabrush and a former Procter & Gamble executive has become the CEO.
While the small businesses have been finding more and more marketing success going “Viral”, many of the big guys are losing it.
A viral campaign has to be funny, clever and compelling, all the while being genuine and resonating with the people and the power of the brand. It’s about making an impact on the popular culture.
So, is there an answer for what separates a successful campaign from a failure? One can only wonder.
Bharadwaj Battaram
Marque
IIM Rohtak
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