Nintendo Wii Promotion Partnership with YouTube – Awsome

Play this clip by clicking on the image – very cool marketing partnership.

Is Hating Sarah Marshall really for public consumption?

SMA’s Blog is always looking for articles from our community and beyond. Here’s one that was submitted by one of our readers.

** Guest Writer:  The Z – Renegade Marketer and Social Conscience Advocate**

So there I am… red eyed after another night of work, beverages, and not enough sleep. I am aimlessly staring at subway billboards when one catches my eye. All it says is “You do look fat in those jeans Sarah Marshall” (see picture). There is no corporate logo hidden anywhere, no recognizable slogan; just a message that taken at face value is quite insulting. I write down the link to a website apparently connected to the ad. It’s called www.ihatesarahmarshall.com. I figure there has to be some catch… Well, there is. The ads are actually for an upcoming movie called Forgetting Sarah Marshall, from the producer of Knocked Up and starring Kristen Bell of Veronica Mars fame. But the website is done quite cleverly, and certainly entices the viewer to read on.
It got me thinking…

(working on getting this picture upright)

It’s no wonder viral marketing has become such a hot trend. People are used to having a message spoon-fed to them; having to work for it actually turns out to be quite stimulating. The essence of viral marketing is to plant the proverbial seed in the mind of the viewer and push them to dig deeper. But who controls the tone of the message? What kind of guardrails are in place to protect the viewer? Alternatively, should the message be controlled at all? Is the freedom we North Americans enjoy not intrinsically linked to the right to free speech?

I guess my main issue with this ad is the use of the word “hate”. While often employed in common speech, hatred is not something to be taken lightly. Think of it from a geopolitical standpoint; hatred is generally used when describing one’s sworn enemy. It is used for justifying bombings, invasions, and other such light-hearted matters. “They hate our way of life”; “we hate the fear they terrorize us with”. Regardless of what the subject matter may be advertising, hatred is just un-cool. It promotes what so many have fought to overcome. The more we tolerate the use of the word in a public setting, the more it becomes acceptable. I think it’s time for the geeks from Knocked Up to grow up and hit a library. Let’s raise the bar on our use of vocabulary in the public space, and avoid appropriating hatred on things that really don’t deserve it. Oh, and btw… I think Sarah Marshall looks pretty darn good in those jeans!

Zombie Guerrilas

As cool as it would be to have walking undead monkeys as part of anyone’s marketing mix, this post is slightly more conventional in marketing topics.

The New York Times reported this weekend about Sony BMG’s Guerrila marketing campaign to get people talking about the 25th Anniversary of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” being re-released.

Dance groups from London to Copenhagen have been asked to break into a full choreographed homage to the 15-minute dance in the original music video in public spaces – and then disband as soon as they are formed.

Needless to say – clips of the “spontaneous” dance breakouts have been posted to what is becoming an increasingly important battleground for viral and guerrila marketers: YouTube.

It isn’t exactly clear if Sony is commissioning these dancers, or if the dancers are approaching Sony who is supporting the performances.

Sony IS making it clear they are involved in these events. This is an often overlooked component of other guerilla marketing which have done more to alienate consumers who feel duped.

John Ingrassia, the Sony BMG commercial music group president says that campaigns like this are about “Engaging Consumers.”

I wonder what the SMA community feels like about these marketing tactics – and specifically in this case – where a non-traditional campaign might actually serve the brand better (and be easier to execute) than trying to involve the original artist.

Diamond in the Rough

Has anyone been following this campaign from Post Cereal’s (Kraft) “New” Diamond Shreddies? They are actively promoting the fact that Shreddies now have a new diamond shape, which is actually just their old shape – rotated by 45 degrees. Good, Good whole wheat irony.

I actually think this is a cleaver campaign and is successful through its high level of commitment. They have gone to great lengths to go support the joke behind the spot, inlcuding changing the packaging and name from just “Shreddies” to “Diamond Shreddies”. Somewhat funny, and certainly self-deprecating from a marketing perspective – it stands out.

Is there actually some seriousness to this campaign? Is Kraft chosing a creative way to get people talking about a re-branding strategy?

What I wonder is what will will happen when the campaign ends? Is Kraft going to stick with the “new” name and shape. I wonder what you think they should do 6 months or 12 months into this campaign?

(This is a spot is coming out of Toronto’s Ogilvy Office, and their blog says that while the moderator is an improv actor, the people in the focus groups are real)

What we have here is a Failure to Communicate

Most companies, brands and marketing departments are not used to having a conversation with their consumers. Although humans have been conversing since before Socrates, it has been more of a “we talk about our product, you listen, (and hopefully) you buy” structure for the greater part of modern marketing’s 100+ year history.

But in more recent years, technology has taken what was an asymmetrical control of the communication and marketing mix, and spread it evenly between consumers and marketers. If you like a product or service, consumers can become “brand evangelists” and spread their message to message to the world, sometimes showing higher on a Google search than the actual brand.

Of course, the same can happen with a negative experience. Frankly, frustration, disappointment or the feeling of being ripped-off tends to motivate people start talking much more than a positive experience. (Please see Dell Hell)

Brands and companies have reacted in several different ways to this shift in power. Some operate in a state of denial, choosing neither to acknowledge or participate in a dialogue that might run the risk of saying something negative about their product.

Others have taken a different approach, taking an active roll in the conversation with their clients. And if it is genuine interaction (which is not always a guarantee), it can be very powerful for both parties.

I would argue that every company that has something to sell to someone (i.e. every company) has to participate in a conversation with its clients if it truly wants to evolve for the following 3 reasons:

1) People are already talking about your brand or product, so sitting in the boardroom denying that this is happening around you and refusing to participate may lead to some regrettable decisions that could have been avoided if someone was listing.

2) Involvement does not equal just another location to handle complaints. There are lots of ways that ongoing, honest and genuine communication can increase brand affinity. If these consumers are already willing to engage in dialogs, why not give them insight into information beyond the typical campaign.

I am not suggesting throwing intellectual property out the window. But people have a strong desire to be a source of authority on any given topic, so if you as a company are satisfying that need, then we start to enter into a much more meaningful relationship with our customers.

3) To cite Join the Conversation by Joseph Jaffe: Good Conversation is Productive. Conversation gets stuff done. “By interfacing with the blogosphere, [The Company] fundamentally changes how it looked at treating all their primary customers.” Why fight to resist something that is happening and instead work with it to grow together? Conversation seems to lead to collaboration and isn’t that what we all want to have with our customers?

This blog is simply another product, tell us what you think…