Sacrilicious Marketing

Do you have what it takes to create viral content?

In a marketing department, good viral content almost always starts in the mind of the craziest person in the room. It is the responsibility of the “less” crazy people to tame the idea so nobody gets fired, arrested or deported. The following is a detailed multi-part series on how corporate marketing departments build viral campaigns like the Evian Babies or my favorite print piece, the Letter to Richard Branson from a “Virgin Atlantic Flyer” later to be outed as Virgin’s own marketing department.

The Problem

A client, a major name in the recording industry is interested in pooling celebrities and the charities they support on a website that engages multiple fan bases to donate money, time, goods, or services to the various charities. The problem is getting traffic to the site, promoting the site and getting all the celebs and charities (that may have opposing religious, ethical, or political dogma) to play nicely but still generate buzz collectively. So, the rub is finding something viral enough to generate the natural PR but something “politic” enough to not cause Hollywood WWIII .

Part 1: Coming Up with the “Idea”

Tutorial 1: Our Formula for Viral Content

One of the formulas for great viral ideas is combining something people love and something people hate into something that makes people laugh. There are other ways to create viral content, but this one is usually the easiest and because it usually involves a little controversy and is one of the more effective ways of grabbing the attention of Gen X and Gen Y and helping them connect brands to messages.

Step 1: The “Creative” Meeting

One thing I really love about marketing is “creative meetings.” This is where a bunch of marketers (AKA people with too much education but the maturity level of teenaged boys – and yes, I include myself in this stereotype) come together over Starbucks coffee and a roundtable to discuss a project and hurl ideas at each other and the wall until something makes sense for it. Now, if you have ever had the pleasure of being in one of these meetings, there is always at least 1 person who hurls out a bat shit crazy idea that makes everyone laugh. And not laugh a little, I’m talking the kind of laugh where someone is crying, someone else is breathing into a bag and someone discovers their heart condition for the first time and wakes up to 3 paramedics and a defibrillator hovering above them. Sadly, the person with the insane, “holy crap, we’re going to jail if we implement this” and “hey, did Tony just have a heart attack?” idea, 9 times out of 10 is me. Worse yet, I am the person in charge. Luckily, my team is staffed with less “insane” but slightly “smarter” people than myself and an attorney.

So, yesterday, we had a “creative” meeting about this charity celebrity project and like most brainstorming, round table, “creative” meetings, I hurled out the “get the paddles” idea. I’m not going to go into too many details (and, in my head, it was detailed), but let’s just say we wanted to pool celebrities and their causes for Christmas. I was thinking of ideas that would make it “viral” and my first thought was to pair PETA and NRA donations. It may or may not have involved something about Pamela Anderson dressed up like a slutty reindeer being shot by Ted Nugent on a Christmas card (I never said I was “well” in the head or understood the “spirit” of Christmas).

Now, the “get the paddles” idea is usually where a good idea begins. And this is how that works – basically, once everyone has regained their composure and Tony has successfully avoided “going into the light” and is on oxygen, the “less insane” members of the team, start stripping off the “crazy” and shaping the idea into a workable solution backed by real marketing theory and use case studies.

Anyhow, we had a “get the paddles” idea. Now, I am not saying that you struck gold when someone has a heart attack or that that is the scientific process for coming up with viral content. I am NOT a doctor. I am just saying – when everyone on a team agrees it’s funny, you can probably start there.

And because every “good” corporate process deserves a graphical flow chart for the lazy people in the crowd, here’s my graphical stylings. Keep in mind my graphical capabilities are limited and I am the “unwell” component of the team.

Stay tuned for:

Part 2: Shaping an Idea into Viral Content | Would You Donate to the NRA in Pamela Anderson’s Name?

Part 3: Story Boarding 2 Scenarios for a Split Test | Staying just this side of being sued and offending our market

Part 4: Split Testing in Focus Groups | optimizing your campaign so it plays in the market and you keep your job without getting sued.

Part 5: Passing Legal | It’s like a prostate exam without the lube and more polysyllabic words.

Part 6: Implementation | AKA Strategery.

Part 7: Metrics | Proving to your boss you might what you are doing so you can keep your job and get a raise.

(FYI: I have no idea if I am going to write all of these, but I had a hell of a lot of fun just coming up with these titles and it gives you a good idea of the steps you have to take after you have an idea.)

Disclaimers:

1.     No, I am not going to tell you what the idea is we are pitching back to the celebrities and charities involved, but I guarantee you, no Playboy bunnies will be harmed in the making of the video or print materials. And we probably will not go to jail or get fired when it goes live.

2.     Fear not, I am not dangerous, am in therapy and am living better through chemistry. No, not really, but I thought Pamela needed to hear that but I doubt she’d read this far into the post before calling an attorney.

3.     If you were disturbed by the Pam/Ted thing, be sure to never ask about the Ann Coulter, Bill O’Reiley, Glenn Beck phony sex tape threesome concept I had last week. It was for Hanukah. What scares me most, is @coxymoney was on board to make it happen.

4.     For anyone really paying attention to this post, yes it is full of “unnecessary quote” marks. I so wish I could make finger quotes in my blog. Note to self: Self, call graphic designer ASAP to make the blogging finger quotes dream a reality.

Tribute resource: The “Blog” of “Unnecessary Quotes”

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