The Final Countdown

Well the world of Word of Mouth and Guerilla marketing has sure been interesting to watch. There is always so much going on it’s really hard to keep up with it all, but really easy to find interesting and new things to write about. Basically from doing these blogs over the semester I’ve realized that there are so many different ways to reach people, and sometimes you just need to be creative and have a great idea in order to be noticed. Sometimes you don’t need to spend big money; you just need to think big.

I’ve noticed that games or contests are big ways to get the consumer involved, especially if it involves online content, such as the Snickers contest where they urged viewers to make their own Snickers’ song; or the Simpsons’ website where people could make their own promo for the upcoming Halloween special. These both give people a way to actively engage with a brand and form a relationship with it. Instead of thinking that a brand message is being forced down their throat, these consumers are embracing the message and are being given the opportunity to make it their own. Another example would be the Doritos contest where people were asked to make their own Superbowl commercial that actually had a shot at being aired during the big game. These are not just little contests where you have to enter a number into a website and you have the slimmest chance in the world to win 10 million dollars, these are things that people can get actively involved in and excited about. In my mind, I think this is incredibly smart. Pay less to buy media that people are consuming less of, and jump on the new bandwagon. We talked a lot in class about how more people are going online and using programs to share photos, post their movies on Youtube, or blog about their lives/work. It’s the perfect time to begin to use these emerging trends in order to connect with consumers.

Another trend in the WOM world seems to be the shock factor. When you are pulling off a WOM campaign or a guerilla idea, I think shocking people works extremely well. Take for instance Jane magazine’s quest to find a real-life 30 year old virgin a mate. Some people would think of this as vulgar, or that this woman should keep her sexual history to herself. But, “NO!” says Jane Magazine. They decided to document this woman’s life, trying to get her laid. But the thing is – it worked. Well not the getting the girl laid part…but the magazine got noticed, and their brand name got out there, thanks to their trusty ol’ abstinence poster child. WOM marketing is one of those things where sometimes even bad talk is good, because your name gets out there, so shocking the audience works. For instance, the new Tickle Me Elmo doll who was accused of gettin’ a little bit too down with his bad self was talked about VERY much in the popular media, especially on shows such as Best Week Ever and The Soup. But instead of being big worrywarts and trying to take drastic means to fix what was being said about the doll, Mattel just chilled out and waited for the doll’s release – which was met with great sales. Sometimes if you get a little bit of talk going about your product, even if it’s not 100% what you expected or wanted, it can work wonders.

Basically I’ve learned that if you make or do something cool and put it out there, people are gonna talk about it. Especially since there are so many new ways to spread information and ideas so quickly these days, it is essential that all marketers and advertisers become aware of just how valuable word-of-mouth can be. Just as we’ve talked about in class, people are using the Internet more and more to share almost everything about their lives. There are some concerns with privacy in this new digital age, but you’d never know just from taking a look online at all the various video, pictures, and blog posts people are putting up on the web.

So as it stands now I’m pretty sure that WOM and guerilla are both great tactics to be used to generate buzz about a product. I think that they will only continue to grow as more and more people buy into the whole digital theme of our age and start playing with all the user generated content online. Also, outdoor guerilla marketing will target people when they aren’t at home, which is a large chunk of their days. Since traditional media are being consumed less and less, outdoor and out-of-home are great places to reach people (and great places to implement guerilla campaigns)…. Anyways, it’ll be interesting to see where these go in the future, but all I can see is them going up, up, up.


**Note: The above picture is a man attempting to break some sort of strange world record. It is meant for your enjoyment, though it has no bearing on this post.

recipe for a popular song

have it played on a Grey's Anatomy episode

Free Ring Tones - No Joke!

My cousin gave me the website of Mobile 17, a place where you can pick songs from your computer and they will send you the song as a sound message to your phone. You can then save the sound and set it as a ringtone!

It's really cool and totally free. If you really want to pay, you can subscribe so when you are actually downloading the tone to send it to your phone you don't have to wait as long. The first song I downloaded took about 585 minutes to send to my phone, which sounds like a long time but you can just set it up and then leave it to work and then when you come back you have a new phone message!

Good great grand.

I sound like a salesperson for this website. Weird.

WOM Marketing...

Out of Home

So I went to the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) Career Conference last weekend before I went home for Thanksgiving and actually saw a lot of cool stuff and learned a bunch. One of the things I really enjoyed was a presentation by Jennifer Greufe from WOW, and Alexis Luskin from Digitas about Non-Traditional and Out-of-Home Media. They explained what constitutes these types of media and also showed us really great examples of this stuff being put to work. One example of what I thought was a great idea was a transit ad on bus stops that were wrapped in bubble wrap. The copy read "If you think fun always requires money, think bubble-wrap." This was executed on 950 transit media locations, and they were actually able to measure people's response by counting the bubbles popped. This is a great idea because it's something that no one is expecting and it hits them at a time when they are just sitting around waiting for the bus to come, therefore it's likely to engage their interest.

Another great campaign they talked to us about was Nicorette's "No Smoking Day" where people dressed up as giant cigarettes were attacked and brought down by "craving control crews" on various streets so any passerby could watch the scene unfold. This is a great idea, causing a scene especially when dressed like an enormous cigarette is bound to get people to notice. And they did. The campaign increased calls to the helpline by 48% over the previous year.

These are just two examples of the many that these two women spoke about. One things for sure, with people trying to break through the clutter more and more these days, Out-Of-Home and Non-Traditional advertising are just begging to be used.

Update

My mom would like to clarify that she did notice the placement in Casino Royale, she just "didn't care."

Casino Royale: Starring Sony

So yesterday I went to the movies with my mom, dad, brother, aunt and grandma - happy holidays! It's how we bond. Speaking of Bond, we opted to see Casino Royale, the intensely long new James Bond flick.

It was pretty good except for the length, the fact that I wanted to be watching the Sabres game, and I kept missing my friend's calls about going out later (biggest party night of the year?)...

Anyway, Sony had a lot of products carefully placed in the movie. I knew this because my cousin kept leaning over and specifying what Sony product was being showcased. He thought the placement was a little "ridiculous," but obviously it worked. He saw it, didn't he?

My brother also noticed the immense amounts of Sony stuff in the movie, but my parents, aunt and grandma did not mention that they picked up on the placements. Is product placement reaching younger generations more effectively than others?

Someone should do a study.

Happy Thanksgiving

PS - I just realized the movie is by Sony Pictures. Everything makes sense now...

Sony Royale

a real life 30 year old virgin!

Use her for promotion purposes! Do it quickly, while she's still a virgin!

I found a post on Fallon Planning Blog that talked about Jane Magazine's efforts to get Sarah, an almost 30 year old VIRGIN a nice guy to deflower herself with.

They have a whole blog on their website devoted to Sarah and trying to get her to lose it before she's 30. Doesn't seem like it would be too hard to find someone... There are a lot of entries of men who sent in pictures and bios about how they are the right man for the job. Every week, there are picks by: Sarah's dad, Jane's Editor, and Sarah's Friends as to what man is right for the job. Is it just me or is it kind of weird that her dad is picking random men on the Internet to screw his 29 year old daughter?

But guess what? Sarah recently turned 30. And her goal, unfortunately, was not acheived. All I can say is: I don't really understand this whole thing at all.

Does Jane having a virgin blog make you want to read it?

Only time will tell...

Check out Sarah's blog for more...

Snickers Song - the Original

I love Snickers for lots of reasons. It tastes SO GOOD, and it has hilarious marketing lately... Have you seen the commercial with the guy wearing the wig made out of Snickers? Genius.

Anyways, they continue to amaze me with a contest that unfortunately is now in its final stages - I can't believe I missed the beginning! So the Snickers Satisfaction
Singoff asked people to write their own song about Snickers, perform it, and post it on youtube. There are three finalists now, you should check 'em out.

Adding to the allure of this contest? Nick Lachey picks the winner. I'm willing to put money on the fact that the person he picks as the winner will not look or sound like Jessica Simpson.

Putting Nick Lachey aside for a second, I'd like to salute Snickers for this singoff. Great use of the new obsession of consumer generated content, and the original Snickers song commercial (see above) is glorious.

Who do I want to win the contest? The superhero guy.

Catch ya later!

Adicolor - Cool concept...

As I was working on my marketing homework last week, I saw that Adidas' website had an intriguing little link about something called Adicolor. So I clicked it, hoping that whatever it was would be more interesting than explaining what I thought the exact length, width, and breadth of Adidas' products was... and I got more than I bargained for.

This is such a cool concept, originally rolled out by the company in 1983, when they sold all-white footwear that came with waterproof, fast-drying markers so people could design their own Adidas kicks! Now the solid white sneakers come with acryllic paints and the website gives helpful hints on how to paint your shoe to the fullest.

This is such a great idea! I don't know why I'm so taken with it, maybe it's the great website, maybe it's the funny weird music playing ON the great website, or maybe it's just the fact that it allowed me to escape from marketing madness (if only for a few hours...)

Anyways, I'd like to take this moment to say: Well played, Adidas. Adicolor is sweeeet!

ALERT ! ALERT!

Brit filed for divorce from K Fed! OH MY GOODNESS

This means two things:

We will never again see gems like this again :(

and

Back to the Future time travel really IS possible.

Yes it is, Kevin...

Oh well, the relationship was good while it lasted. And they were able to procreate. Twice. So I guess they did what they needed to do. Just gotta keep on truckin'.

Do penguins get the flu?

The upcoming movie "Happy Feet" uses the voices of stars like Elijah Wood, Robin Williams and Nicole Kidman, but that's not all it features. The movie is also doing promotional tie-ins with a pharmaceutical company - Roche.

This is the first time the entertainment business and drug business have merged (well, officially and legally) to create endorsements.

A website features creatures from Happy Feet as well as information on the flu, how people get it and how to avoid it... The site also gives people things to do to fight the flu - Roche's medicine is at the top of the list...

This is a very interesting idea...I'm not sure how well these ideas tie into each other besides the fact that when it's cold outside people get the flu. And penguins live in the cold...

But penguins don't buy flu medicine.

Anyways, The NY Times has more on the topic, so off you go...

Beautifully Done Real Beauty

Really cool viral video going around... word has it that this video has been more effective for Dove than their Superbowl advertisments last year. The main difference between the two in my mind? One's free for them to run! It's excellent.

Check out this article in AdAge that talks about how successful this one little video has been in spreading the Real Beauty message.

So far it's gotten 1.7 million views on YouTube and has been featured on television shows like Ellen and Entertainment Tonight.

Nice PR.

One thing's for sure, it beats the latest Secret Commercials...

Do the (RED) thing

The Gap has recently started working as a partner with Product Red, Bono's initiative to raise awareness and funding for the global fund. The profits made from the Gap Product Red will be going to help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.

The campaign is being promoted by many celebrities wearing Gap apparel for sale including Steven Speilberg, Penelope Cruz, Chris Rock, and Dakota Fanning. There are several pieces for both men and women, as well as accessories that people can buy and a portion of the profits will benefit the Product Red fund.

The campaign is well done and they've used the celebrity endorsements well by taking provocative photographs with the celebrities toting Product Red gear. The copy of the campaign is also innovative and brings you into the issue.

Check it out at The Gap's website.

Mike Tyson doing the monster mash

For your Halloween viewing pleasure...

Scary Halloweenie

A NY Times article on Friday spoke about how marketers are ready to put the horror back in America's spookiest holiday...

Over the last five years advertisers have laid off a bit due to people being more scared in daily life from threats of terrorist attacks and war. But this year advertisers are taking a different approach, trying to scare people "who are immune to being scared," as Candace Corlett, a principal at WSL Strategic Retail put it.

Some current spook factors going on right now:
Universal Orlando is featuring gruesome Halloween Horror Nights this year, and the ABC Family channel is promoting themed programming under the title "13 Nights of Halloween."

Fox is playing with the added interest in Halloween but keeping it fun. They are running a contest in which viewers are encouraged to produce a commercial to promote their annual Simpson's Halloween episode, "Treehouse of Horror."

Consumers can win prizes for visiting the site and making a spot for the show that is as mild or frightening as they wish.

Halloween is a great time of year for marketers to have fun with scary, and this year will surely bring it's spooky moments.

Ballin'!

This new video has been making its way around the computer screens of loyal Giants fans recently. It's a nice little compilation of the NY Giants defense doing variations of their new fan favorite celebration - Ballin'!

Every time the G-men's defense makes a big play, they go craaaazy and start dribbling invisible basketballs and pulling up for crazy J's.

This video is spreading like wildfire among Giant fans, and the words to the song or a link to video are on numerous away messages to be shared.

This is not only great word-of-mouth for the Giants organization, but also gives this song a little boost of stardom.

Next time you wanna celebrate, just remember:

We fly high, no lie, you know this...

BALLIN'!

Check Out This Guy...

Whoever said any word of mouth is good word of mouth has not read this article:

This guy sent a 7 minute long video out to several prominent New York investment banks promoting himself. I guess it's become somewhat of a viral video, being forwarded all around Wall Street, and laughed at often. One thing's for sure, he's not going to get a job out of it...

You'd think someone who went to Yale would have more sense than this!

One thing I'd like to give him props for: the amazing title "Impossible is Nothing" that he so stealthily stole from Adidas.

(Found the article at The Hidden Persuader)

Stairwell Scare

Know CPR and first aid, blah blah blah...we've heard it since 7th grade health class but does anyone really care? There will always be someone around who can do first aid if it's needed, or you can just call for help, right? But what would you do if you saw someone who needed help and you didn't have the skills to help them?



In this Red Cross Canada campaign, anyone walking down the stairs will think that it is time that they learned first aid after they see this decal and find out how they react to danger.



This is a great example of guerilla marketing, it really would take a person off guard and hammer a message at them. I know if I was walking down those stairs I would not know what to do. Maybe it's time to start taking some first aid training...


(Found this at Coloribus Blog)

Ad Land viral cartoon

Watch and see why...

FEEDRAIDER of the lost ark

Feedraider.com

Steve Rubel posted about this site today...

This all still kind of confuses me, but the website helps you make a nice and easy webpage to stay up to date on all your online favorites. It's kind of a do it yourself feed maker.

So I'm gonna try it. I'll let you know how it goes. You should try it too. It will be easier if we do this together.

It's 7:11, do you know where your sportsteams are?

The Chicago White Sox signed a 3-year deal with 7-Eleven stores to move the start times of all their home games to 7:11. Hmmm...attention getting. In the article, a spokeswoman for 7-Eleven said that the company is working to develop sponsorship deals with other sports teams and entertainment venues. Before we know it, the time of everything is going to correspond with a company. Other possible sponsorship deals in the work since this news broke:

Take Five candy bars is trying to sponsor the five commissioners of the FCC
7Up is in negotiations with the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World
Sesame Street was brought to us by the letter D and the number 5?

Anyways, the White Sox games used to start at 7:07. Pretty soon Boeing will be paying the big bucks for them to start at 7:47, huh? 7-11 better keep it’s contract going or all the other numbers are gonna cash in big.

(thanks Mike Gluck!)

BLOOD AGAIN!

Why do people keep mixing blood into the ink of their posters? We aren’t wrongly in jail without writing utensils, trying to prick our fingers to write one last piece of evidence on the dirty cell wall for our partner to find after they’ve moved us to a new secret location… We have access to printers! And ink! And you can read the words on the poster just as well even if the ink is not mixed with blood…

But some people don’t see it that way. Promotions for Saw III include posters that features blood taken from actor Tobin Bell (who plays the sadistic villain “Jigsaw”). The taglines from the first two versions of this movie have focused on blood, Saw II’s line being “Oh yes, there will be blood.” It just seems a natural step to take, using blood on posters, no?

Well… I guess so. Kind of reminds me of Adidas’ campaign for the All-Blacks Rugby team, only it seems more disgusting now. Maybe because I’ve seen Jigsaw in all his glory torturing innocent people.

The studio is also running a blood drive in 25 markets throughout the country, adding a good Samaritan aspect to the marketing for it’s horrific movie trilogy. Saw III comes out around Halloween; keep your eyes open if you love gore.

More on this at AdAge.com.

Things to do on reality television

If you want people all over America to talk about your ridiculous behavior. Part One.

Take a look at Vincent from Project Runway. Freaking out. Because he didn't want the producers to wash his laundry. But they did.

Now all the pop culture comedians are having hey days commentating on this poor man's response to his clothes being ruined. Who wouldn't yell for several hours if someone did a chore for you? Last time my roommate washed the dishes I challenged her to a fight (which I obviously won). We won't be living together next semester. But that's beside the point.

The point is: if you're on tv, don't act like a fool. Or else your 15 minutes of fame will turn into 15 minutes of people making fun of your massive amounts of inner rage.

More on this later.

It's nice, I like!

Oh ma goodness, I cannot WAIT for the Borat movie to come out...it is sure to be simply sensational. For those of you who aren't familiar with the insane comedy of Sacha Baron Cohen, the story goes something like this: He had an HBO show, Da Ali G Show, where he took on multiple personas including Ali G, a hip hop loving British man, and BORAT, a freaking hilarious foreign man from Kazakhstan. The Borat character is so well loved by all that a movie was made...a movie that is coming out in NOVEMBER! So close...

Anyway, there is a lot of word of mouth flying around about this gem of a film, mostly because the President of Kazakhstan has taken great offense to the obvious parody of his nation, and is appalled at the basis of the film. His outrage is so great that he is flying to America to meet with President Bush about the image of his country. He also was said to be planning "educational" TV and print spots to show the American public that his country really isn't the place Borat portrays it as.

People are EATING THIS UP. In response, a mock anti-Borat site has caught on, and various blogs are having their say on the matter. I have only 3 thoughts on the issue:

1. I can't freaking wait for the movie to come out
2. Why didn't Ireland show commericials when Braveheart came out? I thought everyone there painted their faces all the time until last week.
3. I love this line of the Stop Borat! website: We will not become a William Hung for the international community!

But no matter how the cookie crumbles with the real live Kazakhstan, one thing's for sure: I love the nation thanks to Borat. They should be THANKING HIM!

What does that inkblot represent?

Getty Images is doing a really cool contest/game sort of thing where you are "taken to a room" and shown a line of pictures and an inkblot. You must then QUICKLY say what picture the inkblot is representing. You can play for prizes like a trip to London, an African Safari with National Geographic, or a trip to New York's fashion week. When I got to the pages where I needed to pick what prize I wanted to play for, I didn't really know what to do. I wish it said "Check all that apply."

Anyways, the game is really hard and stressful once you start playing. You "lay down in a chair" and I think it's a very sterile and hospital-like smelling room before you begin to play. Once you press the 'start' button, a timer starts TICKING and you try very hard to get the right answer, but it's SO HARD and then you don't know what picture to pick and so you just pick one because the timer is going so quickly. And then you're wrong...

BUT WAIT!

It still says you have a chance to win. Thank goodness for Getty Images having a heart. I played 3 inkblots (because that's the limit of how many you are allowed to play each day), and won on the third try. Guess it really is a charm, because I don't think I had any real basis for picking the picture that I did that time.

Anyways, check it out. This post will probably make a lot more sense then. And you could win a Safari! If there's a deal where you get to pick someone to go with you, I'm calling that spot right now. No backs.

Read more at Adverblog.

Post It

Found this at Room 116. Consumer generated street art of post-it notes in SOHO. Check out more pictures of the up close details at Room 116's blog.

Interesting... Post-it notes are pretty cool if you think about it. All the colors they come in, and they way they stick to things? Post-it notes may be the next big thing. The next I pod? Maybe it will be cooler than the I pod. It's paper thin, and comes in way more colors. And if you drop it on the ground, instead of sending it in for repairs, you could just pull another one off the large stack of other post-its. Sometimes at parties if I find a stack of post it notes and a permanent marker, I'm entertained for hours. And by the end of it, a room in the house is covered in post it notes filled with nonsensical gibberish.

I'm bored.

Anyways, what would I write on this to do list?

Find something to do.

B.Y.O.SuperbowlCommerical.

Sometimes people watch the Super Bowl to check out the crazy commercials, this year they can watch to check out THEIR OWN crazy commercials. Several companies like Chevy and Doritos are running contests where people can submit ads and the winning spot will be shown during the Super Bowl.

Hmmm... how should we feel about this? Super Bowl ads cost mad money, why let consumers use your valuable time? Maybe it's the crazy attention being paid lately to consumer generated content, maybe these companies are just sick of the ads they've been getting from their agencies, who knows... One thing's for sure - Chevy doesn't exactly trust it's customers...they are "soliciting ideas only for its spot during the game," and leaving the rest up to professionals. Kind of takes the fun outta the game, huh? I had a better idea for the Doritos commercial anyway...

Picture this: A guy doing his laundry and eating his 3D Doritos in cool ways when in walks a hot girl and she totally beats him at his own game by throwing the 3D Dorito off several surfaces in the laundromat and catching it in her mouth at the end (possibly doing a split? depends on the talent we get...) I think I got a winner.


Find out more ...

Just for fun

This has nothing to do with marketing but has been around a few blogs and is hilarious. Watch it. Now.
My only question: is it a an exceptionally talented boy, or an exceptionally small man? Either way, God Bless him.

In other (non-marketing) news, Kevin Federline's resume is up for auction on Ebay...gotta love it. It's so full of past experiences and um...other stuff, I don't know how it fits on just one page.

And finally, on on her show Tyra Banks found a 39 year old man who had never even kissed a girl and got a random audience member to change that. When asked how they both enjoyed the kiss , the man said it was "out of this world," while the audience member could only come up with "minty fresh." Guess he hasn't mastered his technique yet...

They call it responsible...

You know those ads you see on tv that suddenly make you start paying attention? Interesting music, good stuff going on, and even though it's not trying to be funny, you want to pay attention. No joke to get, just a great idea being put to work. Liberty Mutual has a commercial out right now that does just that. My friends have been talking about it and actually get excited when it comes on during a show. Check it out , maybe it will move you too.


In other insurance news, State Farm is taking a different approach...not so emotional, just a little more fun I guess. At www.nowwhat.com, the carrier shows situations where you need insurance (like if a huge air conditioning unit falls on your car, or someone steals something from your house) and tells you what to do if you find yourself in a similar situation (hence the name NOW WHAT!). The site is also encouraging the consumers to send in videos of the last time they said "Now What?" and enter a contest where they could win $20,000 in cash, or a trip to the 2007 MTV Movie Awards. Nice little site they got set up there to reach a younger crowd. Now if I could only think of my best "Now what" moment...

I'll keep you posted if I think of anything good.

Elmo Update

So they launched the new Elmo I mentioned a few posts back. It's big news!!! Seemed like it's a top pop culture story, the new doll was featured on segments of both Best Week Ever! on VH1 and The Soup on E! People everywhere are talking about Elmo's new tickle moves.

One little problem...everyone thinks the doll looks suspiciously like its doing a sexual deed when it's having it's tickle attack. Take a look at how Elmo got his groove back, brought to you by the letter R .
(Rosie O'Donnell)

So the WOM is out there, but can the doll sustain it's lovability after being seen in this manner? Only time will tell.

Bonded by Blood

Okay I'm gonna tell you a story. Stop me when you think something's a little off...

So Adidas makes a promotional poster every year for the popular All Blacks Rugby team in New Zealand. The posters are usually given to customers who buy a $70 team jersey made by Adidas. This year they mixed blood from the team's players into the ink of posters.

STOP.

Okay, that was the weird part. Blood was taken from every member of the national team and mixed in with the ink to make 8,000 posters that each come with a certificate of authenticity. Here's another weird thing: this did not weird people out! Maybe it's the American way to be squemish about blood being on a poster, but I think that if something like this was tried in the United States it would not go over well. I see mothers protesting about the campaign being a bad influence on their children or promoting violence. But for the target audience of die hard Rugby fans, the "Bonded by Blood" campaign works.

Over 95,000 hits have been generated at the campaign's site since it began in July where fans can watch the players donate blood for the ink. Way to push the envelope, Adidas. And although last year's poster showed team members wrestling lions, for some reason I think you've outdone yourself. Well done.

Check out the article

Tickle me intrigued...

The newest version of holiday favorite Tickle Me Elmo is being kept under wraps by Fisher Price. The 10th anniversary edition of the toy "TMX Tickle Me Elmo" is being kept TOP SECRET until its formal debut on Good Morning America next Tuesday. I don't know about you but I can't wait that long.

I guess it's no big secret what this doll is all about, I'm sure it will look like Elmo and it's going to laugh on command. So why such a big to do about keeping it secret? Simple. It's been ten years since the lovable red muppet started dominating the market (makes me feel real old) and Fisher Price probably wants to make people interested in the product once again. I don't know if this is such a great idea though... What if after its unveiled everyone realizes that it's the same thing it's always been? Disappointment will run rampant, Christmas/Hanukkah will be ruined for families everywhere. Bummer.

I dunno, we'll see when this new Elmo comes out if it's gonna come through big for everyone. I hope so. The happiness of people everywhere depends on it.

Thanks for the inspiration for this, Marketing Blurb

Furniture and the Chicago Bears

So my mom heard this thing on the radio about a guy who owns a furniture store near Chicago and decided to make a little wager.

He promised that if the Chicago Bears defense posted a shut out over the Green Bay Packers in their Monday Night Football season opener that everyone who bought furniture at his store over Labor Day weekend would get a FULL REFUND.

4 quarters, and no points by the Green Bay Packers later, Randy Gonigam found himself indebted to every customer who bought something at his store on Labor Day...a total of $300,000 worth of merchandise! Incredible.

I know what you're thinking...this guy has chutzpah to promise such a thing! Not so ... he actually was insured the whole time so if the Bears did come through in the clutch he would not be responsible for footing the bill.

I don't know what to think of all this. When someone loses a bet I think they should have to pay it, but this guy sure found a way to get word out about his store. Sometimes all it takes for some word of mouth is a little bet and some good insurance.

Check out the article

Wanna be a star?

All it takes is signing up to be Mooby's friend on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/moobysclerks2


The first 10,000 people who befriended Mooby's Presents Clerks II in their MySpace profile had their names listed in the credits of the movie! Pretty sweet deal. My brother went to college for drama and he hasn't got his name on any movie credits, yet by the mere click of a button you can become an instant star. Well, if people watch the credits long enough to see your name scroll down the big screen.

This idea was accepted so readily by the MySpace world that the promotion was extended... ANYONE who befriended Mooby before July 21st got their name in the credits of the film's DVD! PRETTY FREAKIN' SWEET!

To reach the evergrowing internet friend community, this is a great promotion. I don't really know why people are so excited to get their name in the credits of a movie...does anyone watch those? I guess it would be cool to feel like you were a part of it, and to tell your friends that you are in a movie and they have to see it...hey wait a minute....THIS IS WORD OF MOUTH MARKETING!!!

Pefect plan: Get people to sign up to have their name in the credit, they'll go see the movie to see their name, and probably bring friends (and Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa to see the first success of their sort-of acting career)! If they extend the offer to ANYONE for the DVD release, that's a whole lot of DVD's that will either be rented or sold to look for names during the credits.

I am impressed. And jealous. When will my name be up in bright lights?

Design an Album Cover for Janet !

Jackson family fans are taking out their art sets again, and this time it's not to draw pictures of happenings inside a courtroom... Janet Jackson is running a contest where loyal fans (or anyone else) can take a crack at designing the cover art for her new album due out September 26.

The contest is in cahoots with Yahoo Music and contestants can use up to 33 images of Jackson to put on the cover they design. I'm assuming none of them include everyone's favorite wardrobe malfunction...

Anyways, this is a great way to spread the news of an upcoming album, as well as get fans involved. For all those diehard Jacksonites, this creates a nice opportunity to show how much they care about Janet by taking the time to enter the contest.

Janet personally picks the four finalists who get to have their cover art actually produced and distributed on some selected publicly sold albums. Yahoo Music reports:

Janet does not give participants any parameters for their designs. She wants them to be uninhibited and to "go for it."

"That's what it's really about," Janet says, "for them to manipulate it and get creative, and go wherever their images takes them."

I don't know how much WOM this contest will generate, but it's caused news outlets such as Billboard to comment on it, so I guess it's doing something. While a contest like this can get some buzz going about a new cd, it's hard to judge in this case because it's not too hard for a Jackson to get press.

Bonjour Guerilla

I was reading Adverblog and came across this bit about Lee Jeans opening a flagship store in Paris with a nice guerilla campaign. Marketing firm TriBeCa ran the campaign, you can see more photos of the campaign as well as a video here.

I think this is a great idea. It's always good to put yourself out there in a new way, and I'm assuming the jeans on the street turned the heads of many people walking by. It's a good way to announce the opening of a new store rather than use a street team of people handing out flyers. People will ignore them, but they might be willing to take information out of the pocket of a stray pair of jeans covering a parking meter.


Two questions: Are we crossing legal bounds when throwing clothing and the Lee brand name around public objects? Also, how to keep people from stealing the jeans?

Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee...

BzzAgent is a Boston based company that functions based solely on Word of Mouth marketing. The way it works is simple. ANYONE (even you!) can sign up to become a BzzAgent, and pick out campaigns on their website that you would like to help spread Buzz about. Then the agent will receive a BzzGuide in a few weeks, usually toting a product sample and a guide on how to best spread their "Bzz" about the product or service. The agent is also given a list of activities that make it "easier and more fun to spread Bzz."

Agents fill out BzzReports each time they talk about the product and tell BzzAgent the who, what, when and how of the buzz created. Points are accumulated for each BzzReport filled out by agents, and rewards can be redeemed after saving up a certain amount of points.

I think this is an amazing idea - taking the popularity of WOM and using it to start an empire of consumers who want to help market products. BzzAgent uses volunteers to spread its buzz so they know the people doing the talking are going to do the best they can to help the product/service. This in a way helps to stop the spread of negative WOM. The idea of sending a guide to consumers for each campaign they buzz is also brilliant.

And the BzzReports make the Word of Mouth MEASURABLE!! Can you believe it? An easy way to measure when people talk about your brand.

BzzAgent has found an effective way to make ordinary people spokespeople for products and services, and has given them the tools to do so with the right information in hand.

In my mind, the difference between BzzAgent WOM and regular WOM looks something like this:

Regular WOM:
Guy: Hey I really like your new sneakers.
Guy2: Thanks, me too.

BzzAgent WOM:
Guy: Are those new sneakers?
Guy2: Yeah, they are the new Nike's you can use to connect to your I pod when you run and it will tell you how fast you are running, how far you've run, and how long you've been running. It's really cool and I use whenever I work out. ***
Guy: Whoa, that's awesome! I'm going to buy some!

***(Guy2 probably would say better things about the product because he would have had a guide on how to talk about it)

http://www.bzzagent.com

Anyways, check out their website, it's pretty cool. I'm out for now, gotta go decide if I wanna become a BzzAgent! Later.

It all starts here...

This blog is going to BLOW YOUR MIND looking at what's going on in the world of Guerilla Marketing, Word of Mouth, and Buzz Marketing. Hopefully each post will give you a little bit more insight into the crazy places the world of advertising can take us. No holds barred, every man for himself, buckle up 'cause here we go.