“Sometimes you gotta eat people, America. That’s how business works.”

This woman really, really, really loves the limited time bacon sundae from Burger King. Yes, I know, it smells of obvious viral marketing. But if that’s the case, good on you Burger King because it’s pretty funny.

And if it’s not that, it’s probably a comedy bit.

But if this is indeed legit (unlikely), I’m just happy for this lady. I’m happy that anything could make anyone that happy.

[via BuzzFeed]

Ok, not everybody loves SPAM. Hawaii really does though. Personally, it’s hard to say no to a fried SPAM sandwich, but then again I’ve always been a fan of the world’s little culinary oddities. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the rectangular meat and in celebration of that SPAM is starting a whole new advertising campaign that involves TV ads, online banner ads, and a new website fit with games and new recipes.

First up, SPAM is finally getting a spokesperson. The new SPAM mascot is called Sir Can-A-Lot, and he says that he’s here to “rescue the world from routine meals.”

“The introduction of Sir Can-A-Lot provides an engaging presence that highlights the playful and down-to-earth personality that makes the SPAM brand both unique and timeless,” said Nicole L. Behne, product manager of SPAM family of products. “The campaign features him ridding not only mealtimes of boredom, but also helping consumers ‘Break the Monotony.’”

And with the choice of a knight for their spokesperson, SPAM looks like they are continuing to embrace the Monty Python (Spamalot) association.

Here’s what you can expect from the 75th anniversary ad blitz coming from SPAM:

The booming personality of Sir Can-A-Lot comes to life in various elements:

Television spots:Three, 30-second, animated television advertisements feature Sir Can-A-Lot introducing SPAM products into ho-hum meals in surprising ways

Online banner ads: Online banner advertisements depict Sir Can-A-Lot proudly showcasing his love for SPAM products.

Redesigned SPAM.com: SPAM.com, has been redesigned to create a modern home base for the brand’s fans. Sir Can-A-Lot serves as the site’s guide to help fans break out of their boring routines, and surprises audiences by having them scroll not down, but UP to view the content!

The Glorious SPAM Tower: Fans are encouraged to explore the unlimited heights of Sir Can-a-Lot’s world, and to contribute content to the growing tower made up of cans. Within each can, fans uncover new product varieties, read news and interact with the brand on Facebook and Twitter.
Enhanced Recipe Features: Discover an entirely new set of recipe options, including SPAM recipe descriptions and user-friendly images.
Fun & Games: Become immersed in the world of Sir Can-A-Lot that invites users to explore the SPAM brand.

The company’s promoting the anniversary via social media like Facebook and Twitter as well:

SPAM has been the brunt of countless jokes in its 75-year history. But on average, 3.8 cans are consumed each second in the U.S. It obviously has a loyal following, but this anniversary ad campaign looks to be trying to bring the brand into the social age. What do you think of their new spokesman? Let us know in the comments.

Adapted from the hit AMC show Mad Men, this viral vid shows Don Draper making an emotional pitch – for Facebook’s new timeline feature. The Timeline has been receiving a lot of buzz since Zuckerberg announced it at this year’s f8 developers conference.

Timeline will allow users to put their entire lives on the site. Zuckerberg says that you can “tell the whole story of your life on a single page.” You’ll be able to see pictures, events, statuses, and much more basically from your birth up to present time. Facebook thinks that it will revolutionize social sharing. This extremely well-done video shows exactly how Facebook should pitch their new feature (from user EricLeist) –

In the original Mad Men episode, that scene it taken from a pitch that Don Draper makes for the Carousel, a new slide projector from Kodak. The main draw, he argues, is nostalgia.

Is that the selling point of Facebook’s new Timeline? Nostalgia? It sure seems like it. People are already giddy for the ability to track everything they’ve done (most importantly, with photos). Your whole life – all your relationships (good and bad), the birth of your child, the trips with friends, your new house, your first real job – emotional, right?

For Facebook, they get a ton of new information about people and ad opportunities out of the Timeline. But for users, it could be one of the best things to hit social media in a long time. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Watch the original Mad Men clip off which the mash-up is based here.

Matthew Epstein, a product marketer from Georgia, really, really wanted a job and decided to take a very unique approach to obtaining it. He created an entire marketing campaign in hopes of getting his dream job at… Google.

With this hefty goal in mind, he developed a website called GooglePleaseHire.me. In addition, he utilized social media platforms and offline events to get his distinctive message out:

Mr. Moustache also sent a cardboard cut out of himself that showcased his URL to Google’s HR department to gain further attention. He was on the verge of having a plane fly around the Google headquarters and also display his URL, but fortunately for wallet, his video went viral first.

As it turns out, Epstein did receive Google’s attention. He told us that the tech giant called 2 days after he launched the campaign and, at first, he didn’t believe it was them. He ended up having 3 interviews with them, but ultimately, Google decided not to hire him. Although the reason was not disclosed, a lot of tech companies do not explain their hiring/not hiring rationale in order to protect themselves from legal issues.

The story, however, does not end badly for Epstein. Through his campaign, he received interviews with multiple companies including Microsoft, Amazon, and Salesforce. He was given 3 job offers and decided to accept a position at an investment startup called SigFig.

“I was suffering from a lack of choice, and then by the end of this, I was suffering from a lack of too many choices,” said Epstein.

Even though he succeeded in getting Google’s attention, his campaign could easily be classified as extreme. The creativity, which is very valuable when it comes to marketing, cannot be disputed, but, was it over the top?

“I definitely wouldn’t recommend that everyone slap on a moustache and go around running half-naked,” he admits. “It’s definitely more about creating something or applying for a job that’s in line with your personality and that correlates to the job.”

Epstein told us that 80 percent of his friends thought his plan was stupid. He also said that if he had really sat down and thought it through, he probably wouldn’t have carried it out.

He is thankful that he took the risk and believes that more people will begin to submit nontraditional job applications going forward. According to him, a job application should not feel like work. Epstein recommends that job searchers focus on 3-5 companies that they really want to work for and develop a creative idea that these companies can relate to.

“If you have an idea and you honestly believe in it, just go out and do it,” he said.

Epstein spent over $4,000 on his campaign but received more than 600K views on his video resume, more than 700K unique visits to his website, an overwhelming amount of emails and tweets, and his dream job, even though it’s not with Google.

For this, he told us that it was “definitely worth it.” He also said that we could expect to see “interesting things” from SigFig in the near future.

In case you’re wondering about the fate of his infamous moustache, he said that it is retired for now, but that it could surface again if he is need of a job.

Would you go as far as Epstein went to get a job? Let us know.

It also sports this truly spectacular viral ad campaign (I’m so sorry for that, everybody).

In the weeks before the worldwide premiere, Warner Bros. Canada Google+Feedfetcher”>hired the ad company Lowe Roche to make two unique billboards to promote the film.

The two billboards that were created actually served as giant petri dishes. They were laced with different bacteria and fungi and hung in a storefront window in Toronto.

As you can probably guess, as the bacteria and fungi grew, they spelled out “Contagion” on the billboards.

I must say, this is one of the coolest marketing campaigns I’ve ever seen. Check out the video for some awesomely disgusting fun –

The first 50 people to view the bacteria-board received free passes o the film, which opens today. Right now, it’s 81% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, so it look like this might be a pretty big end-of-summer blockbuster for Warner Bros.

The newest item from the set is the first official photo of Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle and/or Catwoman. That’s the thing – it’s unclear which ego this photo captures.

The photo was released unceremoniously on the official Dark Knight rises website. It appears via a hidden link on the middle of the home screen, across TDKR lettering.

The photo is called selina_kyle.jpg, so what we are looking at might be a particular version of the character that’s not exactly full-Catwoman. This could explain the lack of cat-like signifiers on the costume – no ears or anything.

A few other things jump out about the photo – First, the high-tech nature of the costume. The skin-tight black suit looks more “tactical” than anything. And those goggles are reminiscent of later adaptations of the character. And isn’t she on the batpod? Could that mean that Catwoman will be on Batman’s side in the new film? Or did she just steal it, being the master thief that she is.

For a full-res large version of the photo, click the image below -

Here’s some of the Twitter reaction from this morning’s release –

Oh, ye of little faith.

The Dark Knight Rises viral campaign began with a Twitter campaign to release the first picture of TDKR villain Bane. After that, fans took to launching their own viral campaign with surprisingly well made fan videos that many speculated to be legit Warner Bros products for quite some time.

The teaser trailer was then debuted during the final Harry Potter film.

In other superhero news, the first photo emerged yesterday of Henry Cavill as Superman in the upcoming Man of Steel. Twitter complained about his hair as well.

Are you worried about the impact of Google Instant on your site? Comment here.

Last week, we discussed what impact Google Instant might have on SEO. The topic has been widely discussed around the web. The conclusion some of us reached is that SEO will not die, but will continue to change, but one still can’t help but wonder how to divide efforts among SEO and other forms of online marketing. Neil Jones at ISEdb.com writes:

Getting top spot is now even more important. If you can dig out some heat maps of Google search results from a couple of years ago, you will see people were clicking all over the page, If you look at recent heat maps they have managed to corral people into predominantly clicking on the top 3 results.

It has always been important to get high rankings but now it is looking like; if you’re not number 1 you’re not getting the click. The combination of Google Instant and the sponsored search results pushes the organic SERPS right down the page, in a lot of the searches I have done, the only result that is left above the fold is the number one listing, Real estate on the first page was tough enough to come. Now it could be clicks that are going to get harder to come that are unless you’re number one.

I don’t know if its as cut and dry as "if you’re not number 1, you’re not getting the click", but it might be reason enough to re-evaluate how your marketing efforts are divided up. 

Look at YouTube Instant. This is a project that a student whipped up in a few hours and almost immediately had the whole web’s attention (at least the tech web’s), not to mention the attention of YouTube itself. More importantly, look at how he got that attention – a great deal of it came from a combination of Twitter and press. 

Twitter and press often feed off each other, and can bring exposure to something on a massive scale, in no time. I’m not saying Twitter and press should replace your search efforts, or that it’s easy to do what the creator of YouTube Instant did. Viral isn’t an easy nut to crack. I’m just saying, search isn’t everything. Do something interesting. Make something interesting. Say something interesting. Sometimes that alone can go along way. Even if it doesn’t go viral, it might leave a lasting impression on someone. 

Google’s never going to give up its list of ranking factors.

Now that it’s been around for over a week, do you think Google Instant is a game-changer? Tell us what you think. 

And here’s the backstory:

Fresh off his appearance during a tv spot during the Superbowl, former ASU 1996 Rose Bowl wide receiver Isaiah Mustafa, reprised his role as the manly Old Spice Man and has caused a coup in social media circles.

In an industry that’s been increasingly filled with social media experts whose claimed to fame has been writing books about building a huge following on Facebook or Twitter, or building buzz, or sometimes seem like the Internet marketing equivalent of a Paris Hilton “I’m famous for being famous”, the Old Spice Man has brought a breath of fresh air to the social media scene.

On Tuesday, he took questions from multiple social media channels – Twitter and Facebook – and a team compiled the questions and had numerous personalized responses posted on YouTube, which were then emailed, retweeted and circulated around the Internet.

As of now, there are 205 videos posted on the YouTube channel with more content being progressively added.

Before you jump in with a preliminary judgement that this is a case of new-fangled efficiency in aggregating multiple channels, take a moment to watch the finished product.

The Old Spice Man comes across as:

• Attractive to both genders – women want to be with him, men want to be like him.
• Intelligent: He’s got the chops to reply with astute answers, compared to the incessant laughing and rambling common with some lifecasters.
• Funny: He doesn’t take himself too seriously and his humor is infectious.

Except for a few critics, he’s largely won over the bulk of his followers, including Digg founder Kevin Rose, actresses Alyssa Milano and Demi Moore. His biggest win could possibly be the 4chan community, a rabble-like elite community which has spawned memes like LOLCats and RickRolling.

What helped make this a winning campaign. Some of the key details:

• A successful marriage of social media practitioners and a tech team
• Trust from Old Spice’s parent, Proctor and Gamble, for the ad agency to have a free hand in scripting and going live with responses to queries, without the typical multiple layers of management vetting and approval
• Picking the right person to play the Old Spice Man and front the campaign.

The missing ingredient in most social campaigns is an air of sincerity, playing it straight with the audience and an essential star quality and x-factor which all but a few lack.
Isaiah Mustafa possesses all the following attributes in scads.

Watch the videos and you might just get a taste of the future of social media.

Old Spice Man replies to Digg’s Kevin Rose:

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Alyssa Milano tweets her delight.

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Old Spice Man replies to Demi Moore

Comments

So viral video works. The question is how often and to what degree? Take the example Trident gum. Trident is remembered mostly for one of the most successful tag lines in advertising by claiming that 4 out of 5 dentists prefer Trident sugarless gum for patients who chew gum. There have even been some funny TV ads speculating what happened to the 5th dentist. Good stuff because it sticks (to your brain not your dental work). Apparently this magic touch has not translated to the world of viral internet video as explained in the WSJ.

Trident is trying to make gum interesting to the Internet video crowd for obvious reasons. The most obvious is to sell more gum. Also, they want to be cool, I suppose. How they have gone about it however has baffled more than a few industry experts.

Through a ‘fake’ Internet site that is about revealing fakes (I’m not kidding here) we are introduced to two North Carolina rubes Jerry and Wendell Tucker. They test the strength of Jerry’s teeth with such things as being smashed in the face with a bowling ball and ol’ Jerry ripping the axle off a car using his Trident strengthened chompers. Well, I am not a big video guy to begin with and this doesn’t sound like the kind of stuff to make me rush to join in the hilarity.

Looks like industry insiders feel the same way. The consensus is that the campaign is not working. Of course Trident (a division of Cadbury) and their agency say differently (to be expected) but the best way to see is an informal poll. Since readers of Marketing Pilgrim are right in the crosshairs as the target audience for this type of campaign, how many of you had heard of this before reading this post?

What has your experience been with using viral video campaigns for your business? What works? What doesn’t? What has to be done to support the video? Thanks for your input.

Comments