Viral Marketing

Men’s lifestyle newsletter publisher Thrillist recently ran a high profile co-promotion with JetBlue. Ever interested in the way media is working directly with brands to develop fresh creative ideas, Martd interview Thrillist founder Ben Lerer about the campaign.

Recently you ran a promotion with JetBlue - a get away to Las Vegas. Can you tell us what it was about?

We teamed up with JetBlue to help promote their new “Jetting” campaign, and to tout the launch of Thrillist Las Vegas. They supplied their Beta Blue bluetooth enabled plane and we brought on a slew of sponsors to support the 36 hour extravaganza. Onboard we invited members of the press, some fun/interesting friends of Thrillist and JetBlue, as well as some readers from Thrillist and our event partners (Men’s Health, Yelp, Metro, The Onion, and GenArt).

We left NY on Friday afternoon, had a great Skyy Vodka, Dos Equis Beer and Wines of Germany fueled-flight, then checked into 100 rooms in the Mirage. After getting cleaned up everyone met at Bare Pool for the premier of two new Showtime shows and some dinner, followed by an after-party in JET’s VIP room. We woke up early to head back to the city in the morning.

A number of influential bloggers took the trip - what did they think about it?

It seemed like everyone had a really great time. Some of the bloggers even took advantage of the plane’s WiFi capabilities to post stories from mid-air. It’s hard not to have fun with a 36 hour all-expense-paid trip to Vegas though.

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Want to be Kanye West (and who doesn’t, really)? Dial 1-877-BeKanye and choose from the following options:

• Press 1 to begin the registration process to become a groupie
• Press 2 to join Kanye’s absolutely fabulous entourage
• Press 3 for the absolute summertime cocktail
• Press 4 for the BeKanye tablet, which “unleashes the superstar within” and “turns you into Kanye West for a few hours or the rest of your life” (more at www.bekanyenow.com)
• Press 5 to be directly connected to Kanye West’s cell phone

This is a pretty smart mobile database campaign, as each option prompts you to enter your cell phone number (and we’re sure a healthy number of Kanye fans will oblige).

The ad, which has caused many subway riders to scratch their heads, is actually from Absolut. The idea is that you can Be Kanye in “an Absolut World.” The connection is not obvious though, like most viral advertising. So do people hate ads that much that brands need to disguise their messages in a Kanye West wrapper? Maybe. But will they be more angry when they discover the big bad brand behind it?

Everyone appreciates a good laugh, and can nod to the joker, even if it’s some “26-year-old hipster ad twat.” But it’s a dangerous game-humor is subjective, and people hate playing the fool–especially if they’ve been on hold for Kanye all day, dangit!

www.bekanyenow.com

We reported earlier on the viral marketing campaign of Absolut vodka that put Kanye West in a cheesy infomercial-style ad. On a morning commute to Manhattan we noticed a poster ad had gone up, with only a subtle reference to Absolut hidden in a chunk of text. One passenger took out her camera phone and snapped a picture, while all other riders studied the poster looking confused. Nobody else knew what the ad was for and didn’t look like they would bother to find out. We’ll be curious to see how this campaign expands to reach a larger audience while promoting a product rather than consumer confusion.

[via NY Mag]

Over on Silicon Alley Insider, Fred Wilson VC points to three over-used statistics that, he says, might sound good but don’t add up to much. He says it’s best to ignore RSS subscriber numbers, Facebook app install numbers and follower numbers on Twitter, Friendfeed, Tumblr, or other social media service. An extract:

I am telling you that the number of followers you have may be relevant early on in the life of a service, but it really doesn’t matter in the long run. …My blog has, according to FeedBurner, 133,000 RSS subscribers. That’s a big number. But the number of people who read this blog via the feed every day averages less than 4,000.

…I have 5,152 followers on Twitter, 4,482 followers on FriendFeed, and 877 followers on Tumblr. I don’t know of any way to calculate the number of people who actually visit my updates on Twitter or FriendFeed, but I do know that my tumblog gets on average 250 visits per day.

…Social media is no different from all media. The number of people who at one point were interested in your content or service is not that meaningful. What matters is the number of people who engage with your content or service on a daily basis and how engaged they are. And RSS subscribers, Facebook app installs, and follower numbers don’t measure that.

Three Statistics That Lie

Tech commentator Robert Scoble has some interesting thoughts around participation on the web. He says that his site (and his brand) gets more popular the more he comments and responds to comments - especially on services like Friend Feed. He calls this the ‘Participation Premium’:

What [I am] telling you is that you can easily get noticed in any community simply by participating. Yes, other factors do matter, but just by participating you’ll build an audience that “the popular kids” can’t get to.

…Now, the question is, why am I participating in FriendFeed more than I’m participating in the blogosphere lately?

Easy: I think the community over there is geekier and more technology savvy (not to mention friendlier) than any other I watch (and I watch a bunch). It’s amazing how fast FriendFeed is growing, too. Remember, I’ve only been on FriendFeed four months. After being on Twitter four months I only had a few hundred followers. FriendFeed is a very viral community and is changing daily as new people discover it.

Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger » Blog Archive The “Participation Premium” «

Skype has launched a new advertising campaign based on one of the most basic human emotions. Dubbed the “Skype Laughter Chain” it is the latest in the growing pool of viral marketing. The concept is simple, you record yourself laughing and if it is deemed contagious enough you will be added to the chain. The first video is just a sample of what’s to come and it seems straightforward enough, if not a tad lengthy. The preview video features a lovable baby, a woman trying to hide her unique chuckle and arguably the internet’s only laughter celebrity.

According to their website:

Laughter is a universal language

It’s no accident that LOL (Laugh Out Loud) is one of the most popular acronyms on the web – we all love to communicate, to share and feel part of a community. Laughter brings us closer together – it’s a language we all understand and everyone loves a good laugh.

Converse’s left-field video of Ross showing folks how to kiss my demonstrating on the screen/camera lens was picked up by the Best Week Ever site where they created their own. Blogger Alex Blagg snogs and licks the screen before tucking into some Chinese takeaway.

Converse followed up with a new video within 7 hours at a site called Kissing Back With Ross where Ross eats backward the words ‘Best Kisser Ever’

[Update:] Alex Blagg has taken the ‘bate’ and has asked his audience how to respond.
Kissing With Ross
Best Week Ever
Kissing Back With Ross

Kanye West promotes his ‘Be Kanye’ tablets in this faux commercial that we’re told is for Absolut vodka.

Be Kanye

Hoping to turn out a series of adrenaline infused commercials for Nissan, professional surfers Jon Rose (US), Mar Ohno (Japan), Sergio Laus (Brazil) and an entire film crew were flown down to one of most isolated and unique breaks in the world.

The wave, called Pororoca, is a tidal bore at the mouth of the Amazon River. It’s created when the leading edge of the incoming tide from the Atlantic forms a wave that travels up the river. Still a secret to most, the wave has developed into somewhat of a legend amongst surfers and an annual championship has been held there since 1999.

Nissan put together this short film documenting the trip, as well as the wave.

Additionally, Surfline has a fun little sideshow with Jon Rose detailing the entire adventure.