Posts Tagged ‘viral’
Social Media
Massive response for a miniature ad
posted by Jason Fleck @ January 21st, 2009
Today’s blog post comes from guest blogger Alex Gelhar. Show him some love and comment below.
This morning a coworker forwarded me an article about Miller High Life buying a 1 second advertisement during Super Bowl next weekend (Feb. 2). My first thought was quite literally, “That’s crazy,” but as soon as that gut reaction subsided, I was intrigued.
I wanted to know how a 1 second ad could be effective, and after following the link in the article to the promotional website 1secondad.com, I found out.
The site features rejected takes of everyone’s favorite beer man Windell Middlebrooks filling his one second of fame with everything from catch phrases to painting a picture of the Miller High Life can. Also, there were longer videos of Windell riffing on the ludicrous prices associated with the Super Bowl, from tickets to concessions to advertisements.
Why’s this effective? The Super Bowl is renowned for having the greatest commercials. There are even websites devoted to rating the best Super Bowl ads.
Yet with the reported cost of a 30 second advertisement totaling $3 million dollars for 2009, MillerCoors has found an effective and possibly cheaper method of promoting their brand.
On the MillerCoors website, Senior Brand Manager Kevin Oglesby explains the logic behind the miniature ad.
“Just like our consumers, High Life strives to make smart choices. One second should be plenty of time to remind viewers that Miller High Life is common sense in a bottle.”
That isn’t to say MillerCoors paid pennies for the ad. They had to drop tons of cash for the shoots, website creation, and eventual placement – even if it was less than $3 million. However, the fact that it’s already being hyped online and generating tons of buzz for a commercial is astounding - a 1 second commercial no less. Google the ad or check the Twitter chatter if you need more proof.
In addition to the ad itself, the pre-game publicity and viral response will score MillerCoors tons of attention. For example, while walking around the office I heard “Miller Time!” and other catchphrases echo out of offices, along with subsequent chuckles. And all of this promotion is costing MillerCoors nothing.
While other corporations drain millions in online banner advertising, MillerCoors has embraced the future and accepted new media into their marketing plans. Through PR, promotional websites, and a viral campaign, more people will probably be playing “Where’s Windell?” on February 2 instead of watching the other commercials or even the game for that matter.
This IS social media at its finest.
If this campaign proves successful, and I think it will, it might help usher in a new era of corporate marketing.
Movies have already embraced this trend, as films like The Dark Knight and Tropic Thunder used multiple websites to promote their eventual box office smashes (check out whysoserious.com and rainofmadness.com for examples).
Is it too bold to assume stuffy old corporations that resist change like the plague could embrace such technological advancements? Who knows? But they better decide soon, or risk losing their brand recognition amidst the tides of the recession.
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Social Media
Is there such a thing as TOO viral?
posted by Jason Fleck @ January 16th, 2009
Well, apparently Carl’s Jr. thinks so. I, however, do not and here’s why.
As the saying goes, “any publicity is good publicity.” Carl’s Jr. released an online coupon to 276 lucky contestants to receive a free burger. This coupon was then passed around online through HUNDREDS of message boards and bargain-hunting websites until Carl’s Jr. had to shut down the promotion from too large a response. Finally the story ended up on Wired.
That’s WIRED.com people - A HUGE News site and magazine that covers technology, culture, business and politics. And it’s Google PR (page rank) is 9/10.
The reason Carl’s Jr. ended the promotion was because they were afraid to run out of burgers. And my response: SO? How many of those coming in with coupons for a free burger purchased a drink and fries? So what if they ended up giving out more free burgers than they had originally intended - even though I’m sure meat is the most expensive product to give away for free…
To capture the amount of exposure they received would have cost them millions in advertising. If they would have ran with the idea, it would have been a great way to introduce new customers to a product they probably wouldn’t have tried before. I mean if the burgers sucked, why would anyone want to copy the coupon?
The problem with their situation is they should have anticipated the ‘viralness’ (see I can make up words) of their offer. Who’s going to want a free burger? Answer: everyone. In the future, they’ll have to tailor their campaigns to fit their goals.
Even though they discontinued the promotion, they still received great exposure. Good for them. Now how is this measured? Did this accidental viral campaign increase their sales or customer count? Only time will tell, but I guarantee it didn’t hurt and those numbers are definitely measurable.
In our current economic climate, this is the kind of advertising businesses need to focus on. Let your customers advertise for you for FREE. Maybe you’re not giving away free burgers, but is there an incentive you can offer to your clients or potential clients? I bet there is.
So what do you think? Is there such a thing as TOO viral?
The social media tools available are cost-effective and a great way to reach out to your audience. Let us empower you to use these tools and hype your brand.
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