The Onion - Not Trying to Be Viral - Just Doing It

Consistently better comedy than you'll find on TV - and now it's coming to TV January 21st on IFC, the Independent Film Channel. Hope that doesn't kill the mojo.

It's like Mad Magazine for adults, The Onion almost always does great humor, the kind you pass around to friends, making it....oh what's that word everyone wants to be...ah yes, VIRAL! But too many marketers don't understand that you can't just "make" a viral item, be it a video, cartoon, image or whatever. It has to have a reason to be viral, like humor or thought or intrigue. And all too often someone's idea of what should be viral is not the public's idea. If you try too hard you won't succeed. Remember that old phrase they tried to kick to the curb, "Content is King?" It's true.

There are agencies out there that will claim they can create viral buzz for your brand. Most of the time, they can get all their employees to tweet and blog about something they did for your brand, and they might bump you up the Digg rankings, but in the end a media push gets sniffed out and people don't fall for it. Here's a guy writing a column about how to create a viral buzz. The first commenter comes along and nails it: viral just happens, you don't create it. Yeah, that's what I said.

See below for a good example of what could be viral, at least for a two-day stretch in late November in the US.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The consensus seems to be that Google Buzz is too late. Early bird has been there and eaten that. We're all snoozing through the press releases and tutorials, if we even bother to look at them.

We've got all we can handle in terms of platforms to "share" everything with everyone.

Pretty Much Genius

How cool to have been in on the pitch that went, We're gonna create these off-the-wall banners ads for fictitious small businesses that have NOTHING to do with the car and we'll place them everywhere the likely Matrix buyer would visit. They’ll just be weird funny, like "Mr. Squirrel’s Pet Daycare" or "Sakura’s Animal Lingerie" or this one, which plays sportingly on the Soccer Hooligan stereotype of our Anglo cousins. They’ll be so bizarre that people will click on them and then they'll learn all about the Toyota Matrix when they’re directed to the equally off-the-wall yourotheryou website.”

Cooler still would be hearing the client say, "Go for it. Sounds like fun."

Unfortunately, it takes a dedicated detective with plenty of time on their hands to get to the meat of that website. Then again, when you name a car after a cult movie franchise, your demo might be really into finding clues and uncovering secrets.

Expect imitators of crazy wtf banners soon.

A Little Late There, Priceline

Back in April, Angela at AdRants posted about the new campaign within a campaign for Priceline. William Shatner, in his recurring role as the Priceline Negotiator, gets himself a falcon sidekick called the Falcon of Truth. Shatty also sports an eyepatch, because as The Shat explains, "Tiniest fib, goes right for the eye." He proceeds to get a rental car from a desk clerk, who doesn't get her eye gouged out, which we assume means she actually did get His Shatness the best deal on a rental car.

So that was April. Priceline also offered the first 100 people who signed up a free Falcon of Truth t-shirt. Since I can never have enough free grungy yardwear with weird imagery on it, and since I'm a steadfast believer in the Power of The Shat to sell stuff, I signed up.

This morning (two and a half months later) a FedEx truck rolls up to my door delivering my Falcon of Truth t-shirt. I had totally forgotten the thing - not to mention the campaign. Two and half months is a lifetime when you're trying to create buzz for something.

So you launch this campaign in mid April, run about one spot a couple of times, throw up a companion website complete with the obligatory wallpapers, screensavers, giant downloadable images of Fat Shat in all his rotund and ridiculous glory, MP3s and even ringtones, and then you abandon it? (Yes, falcon ringtones.)

But wait, there's more! They even gave us B-roll footage and "the making of the Negotiator spots" behind the scenes action!

And yet a search for "Falcon of Truth" at Google video still yields nothing. (It's up at lesser video sites.)

You had a good thing going here and then you let it die, Priceline. A few people tried to get the ball rolling, but it never took off like it should have. The notion of a falcon who detects lies and gouges out eyes has great comic possibilities. I see David Spade as a smarmy ticket agent rolling on the floor in agony after the Falcon has at him. As it is, if I ever wear this t-shirt, I'll have to go into a long explanation of just who the Falcon of Truth was.

"Way back in April of '07, Priceline tried to do a viral thing that never took off. See, Falcon of Truth was the sidekick to the Priceline Negotiator and if the falcon detected a lie, he'd....nevermind. It's just a t-shirt."