Last night I was watching this video from Vayner Media front man Gary Vaynerchuck and it really hit home with me and seemed like a no brainer for brands to be looking to expand their reach.
The thought of adding a call to action after a commercial – to a micro-site, Facebook page, Twitter page, YouTube channel, etc. seems too easy. Sharing the commercials on video sharing sites would seem to make sense too, but oftentimes is not the case. Folks seem reluctant to change because they have a system that works. For every auto company that is embracing this, there are two McDonalds or Stop & Shop’s that are ignoring the free call out. Chances are, unless you are on the Home Shopping Network or hawking a ShamWOW, your product isn’t being sold on the boob tube.
While Gary focuses on commercials in his videos, I would also suggest that companies are missing the boat with their offline and radio ads as well. Radio has the same limitations as TV in selling products, but you could gauge the reach on top of the metrics the stations offer by offering a specific Facebook page with a survey that asks where they heard the commercial along with some interesting content. You could also add the URL to magazine and other print ads because it puts something tangible and actionable on an ad that won’t immediately garner a sale on the john. By adding a link you could also get someone heading to the site if they happen to have a BlackBerry or iPhone handy in their *ahem* office. What could it hurt? A tiny URL or Facebook call out in the corner of the ad won’t hurt anyone, but will add some more bang to your buck and some additional metrics to track.
Before tossing this to ya’ll to see what you think about the proposition, I wanted to share an oddity that I got from a few of the folks I spoke with during the #soxup for the book release party of Steve Garfield’s Get Seen (my review). Now the event was about using video to get seen, so it took me by surprise talking to some folks only to find out that they were terrified of getting in front of the camera or opening their company up to user generated video. I wonder if that has anything to do with the hesitancy of adding new media to traditional media pieces. What do you think?
Last week, a tragedy struck one of America’s most recognizable family establishments – SeaWorld. Trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed towards the tail end of a lunchtime performance in front of a live audience by Tilikum, an orca. While a workplace death typically drives PR into crisis mode, this instance also puts the brand into crisis and identity management.
From a brand point the company is married to the killer whale, take a look at their online pitch for dinner with Shamu as a prime example as noted by the AP, “Be part of an up-close and unforgettable adventure!”
That statement alone will make handling the crisis more difficult. For starters, the park may wind up having to pony up for therapy or counseling for the kids in the audience who witnessed the event or be prepared for a legal battle with the departed’s family. Those instances are something that the teams should be capable of handling. The wild card for this crisis is Tilikum, making for a whale of a problem.
Now SeaWorld has done some great things to help offset the crisis and seems well suited to handle their issues in the immediate future.
Perhaps the two biggest hurdles in the immediate future are dealing with the public opinion and the fate of the whale.
When the story was making its rounds on the social circuit, I was discussing the situation with Aurora Meyer on Twitter and she offered some insight into a strong feeling among many around the country. To put her comments into perspective, she noted that she grew up in Northeast Ohio when SeaWorld was still there and was never a fan of the whale show, and felt bad for the whales.
“As zoos move toward more “natural” habitats for their inhabitants, I often wonder why marine parks aren’t doing the same things. Isn’t viewing the animal in a more realistic habitat a better education than seeing it perform stupid tricks?
Killer whales are called Killer for a reason. They are huge and deadly in the wild where they have whole oceans to swim. I can only imagine how the bathtub sized aquarium felt. Additionally, this whale had issues before. The question I want answered most is why was this whale still forced to perform? If he was “acting like a small child” as some reports indicate before the show, why wasn’t the show cancelled? Furthermore, why if this animal has been involved in other incidents was he even part of a show? If Sea World truthfully answers these questions and apologizes to their fans, people will come back and won’t likely have lasting resentment. But it does bring up larger issues of animals in captivity.”
Aurora makes some great points and I am sure her views are shared by many, some of which will go to extremes to get their point out there. With that said I hope that PETA doesn’t make a brash statement on this saying something like “we told you so” or “saw this coming”. There will also be those that call for the whale to be put down.
Tilikum’s Value to SeaWorld
Seen as alpha-male and is the father of 13 of the 20 calves born in SeaWorld
$10,000-$12,000/month in electric bills to maintain habitat
$35,000 a year for food
Mitchel Kalmanson, a marine mammal appraiser notes, “Without killer whales, the rest are ancillary shows.”
As anyone can tell you, these groups can put a ton of pressure on an organization. The negative press and protests can possibly hurt the gate more than the whale is worth to SeaWorld. One thing that could be a PR win for the company and help remove some of the heat from protesters on both sides of the fence is to let the whale go – free wily style. Given the whale’s history and the potential long legal battles for SeaWorld, this PR stunt could help draw more positive attention than the looming headache. The stories are already starting check out this video where an expert notes the attack was premeditated.
SeaWorld is pretty social media savvy and doing a documentary-styled YouTube campaign on the release could generate ridiculous buzz. They could even run a contest giving 100 school children or researchers the chance to be part of an up-close and unforgettable adventure to re-introduce this behemoth of the deep blue into a natural habitat. Hell a lion reunion garnered over 5M views on YouTube with 1970’s film, imagine what could be done in hi-def. The DVD sales could potentially offset the money lost in Tilikum’s stud fees. Think it’s crazy, here’s a quick plan on how to make it work:
Operation Shamu goes home
June – Announce re-introduction to the wild for following year. Include YouTube channel, live feed address of tank, Twitter handle, Facebook fan page, etc.
July – Announce contest to join team in reintroduction
December – Announce winners; fly to SeaWorld for face to face with Tilikum
February – Reintroduce whale to wild. Livecast event
Throughout the process there would be a constant update of information and some scientific stuff surrounding best time but it can happen. Each one of the announcements should garner attention and buzz as well as multi-media assets. What do you think? Could it work? Do you have a better idea for the whale?
This new tool from Microsoft looks like it could be quite interesting if it can be used on a browser other than IE. Since it’s SharePoint based, getting past that hurdle could be a real game changer since Microsoft can probably bring metrics to an affordable price point for the everyday social media guy or company.
This is a great video by Gary Vaynerchuck, possibly one of the best that I have seen on social media. One of the things that stands out is that the medium can’t be scripted to the T for a company. Much like PR needing to adapt SM practitioners need to be ready to change on the fly.
This might also be the only time I have liked the word ninja being used in a non-kungfu kind of way.
On February 7, Puma placed this video on YouTube and their micro-site questioning what you would do if Valentine’s day fell on a soccer match day in both English and Italian. The site also offered the ability to send as an e-card or as a Facebook update with customizable text. While I will not begin to claim that I understand the game of soccer or Italian, this was a curious ad that I am sure appealed to the masses in both of the soccer-crazed countries.
From a viral standpoint the video was a hit with the following stats in just 10 days:
Views 765,745; 76,574.5 views/day
UK – 580,776; 58,077.6 views/day
Italy – 184,969; 1,8496.9 views/day
840 Tweets about Hardchorus alone
What can we learn from this?
Viral videos are one of those things that need a catchy premise, a story and a little luck or you could just hire guns like these guys. So without tapping into how to make a video spread like wildfire, let’s take a look at what worked for Puma.
Catchy tune - If there is a person who doesn’t know the words to this Savage Garden song, please let me know. I would like to shake their hand. So off the bat it has a leg up on being sticky, because there is a good chance the tune will be stuck in the viewer’s head.
Passion – Much like the song being pretty well known, it is safe to say that folks around the world can put one and one together to know that both England and Italy are crazy about soccer or football as they like to call it. So the promotion also pulls at the heart strings of these fans. Do you spend Valentine’s day with your first love or the love you share your bed with? Depending on who you ask it might be a tough question.
Real – This could also fall under passion, but the hooligans in the commercial could easily be real fans sitting in the bar. Before you say Are you kidding me, think back to a Friday night when Journey comes on at the bar close to last call. So it is plausible.
Big brand, big buzz – While I couldn’t find budget details on the campaign, I am sure that this was a multi-channeled campaign that hit a number of channels to maximize the initial buzz. This could have also been as simple as an email blast that sent traffic to the site. This pre-population of buzz is similar to viral agencies that promise 100,000 YouTube views.
So how can you incorporate this into your marketing or social media mix? The first could be to find something that fits, takes you out of your comfort zone or could be seen as holding mass appeal. Read that not just cool to you but to kids and adults while making them want to connect with your brand. Fall down, get dirty, rinse and repeat until you strike gold.
What do you think of the campaign? Hokey? Brilliant? Love to hear your thoughts.
page with a survey that asks where they heard the commercial along with some interesting content. You could also add the URL to magazine and other print ads because it puts something tangible and actionable on an ad that won’t immediately garner a sale on the john. By adding a link you could also get someone heading to the site if they happen to have a BlackBerry or iPhone handy in their *ahem* office. What could it hurt? A tiny URL or Facebook call out in the corner of the ad won’t hurt anyone, but will add some more bang to your buck and some additional metrics to track.
