What's Buzz Got To Do With It?
Monday July 31, 2006
by Todd Coats
As media and production costs continue to rise, advertisers are less willing to trust their gut in creating truly breakthrough work. Instead, more and more work is derivative, appealing to the lowest common denominator and thus forgettable. But savvy audiences resent being marketed to as a demographic. We have bred a culture of mistrust in all things bona fide.
Word-of-mouth or buzz marketing offers hope that smart ideas can flourish. Buzz-worthy ideas come in all price ranges; the common factor is originality. It relies on stellar creative and honest-to-goodness interest to propel a message forward.
At Capstrat, we’ve experienced the benefits of buzz firsthand. Last May, we created a Post-it Note mosaic of Elvis in our office. We wanted to create something with impact using ordinary office items.
We invested relatively minimal time. Yet this work has caught fire around the world. Since posting it on the Web, we’ve had over one million visitors and hundreds of emails, blogs are linking to it, Gannett picked it up, NBC stations nationwide have run the story, “Good Morning America” contacted us. Just today I learned it showed up in a political journal in D.C. Here’s what we’ve learned about buzz marketing.
First, get audiences talking about you instead of hearing from you. Everyone is overwhelmed by media messages. Be smart, original and honest to get noticed.
Create ambassadors. A message will spread further and quicker if you allow others to own a piece of it.
Look at the total marketing mix. Buzz marketing demands messages not seen through traditional media. Earned media, public relations, viral marketing – they all allow for a more complete picture.
Last, find new and engaging ways to observe behavior and get relevant audience data.
Of course, as buzz marketing becomes more pervasive, audiences will develop immunity, and marketers will have to reinvent themselves once again.
Note:
We took down Elvis March 4, 2006 and replaced him with Einstein.
This campaign took us all the way to the Late Show with David Letterman.
