Burger King Bets on Tony Stewart and a Polygraph Test

Burger King’s newest celebrity endorsements are coming from NASCAR driver Tony Stewart.  I just saw my first Burger King commercial starring Tony Stewart this week, and it wasn’t bad.  Considering how popular NASCAR is, I’d imagine the pairing of a popular driver with fast food is decent.

Then I heard that Tony Stewart is taking a live polygraph test online where he will be asked if he really likes Burger King Whoppers, and the appeal of this campaign from Crispin Porter & Bogusky became clear to me.  It’s a clever attempt at creating an integrated marketing program driving television audiences to Burger King’s special website — where visitors can submit their own questions for Stewart’s polygraph test.  And that site is in addition to the existing BKracking.com site that already has interactive features and a sweepstakes game.

Will the effort sell more Whoppers?  It’s hard to say.  I’m not well versed in the NASCAR audience demographics, but it certainly can’t hurt.  If nothing else, it’s got people talking, which has to be good for the Burger King brand.

However, I’m not so sure about the Carrot Top and Erik Estrada appeal (check out the commercial below)?  Since Carrot Top got all pseudo-buff on steroids, he’s disturbingly freaky to look at.  On the other hand, what person older than 35 doesn’t get a bit nostalgic when they see Frank Poncherello?

What do you think?

United Breaks Guitars – YouTube to the Rescue

First the backstory –

In Spring 2008, musician Dave Carroll took a United Airlines flight heading toward Nebraska for a 1-week tour.  Due to carry-on bag restrictions, he had to check his $3,500 Taylor guitar.  While sitting on the tarmac, another passenger brought everyone’s attention to the United Airlines baggage handlers who were throwing Carroll’s guitar (among other things) into the plane in a manner that left little hope for survival.  After 9 months of phone calls and discussions with a myriad of United Airlines employees, Carroll was finally told that United Airlines would not compensate him for his loss.  You can read the full story here.

So what did Carroll do?  He turned to the power of the social web, namely YouTube, to share his story — and it worked!

Carroll wrote a song and filmed a video called “United Breaks Guitars” (which is very funny) and uploaded it to YouTube on July 9, 2009.  You can view it below (or watch it here).  As of today, not even two months since it’s release, the video has been viewed over 5.3 million times.

Word got out and the video became a big enough viral sensation that United had to respond.  They contacted Carroll and offered to compensate him for the damages done to his guitar, but Carroll declined the money and asked United to donate it to charity.  He uploaded a new video on July 10th in which he describes his discussion with United, which you can watch below (or view it here on YouTube).

On August 17, 2009, Carroll uploaded the second song and video in his 3-part United song series.  As of today, just two weeks later, already nearly 300,000 people have watched the video, shown below (or view it here).

Carroll is now writing the third and final song in his United series, which will be released on YouTube with a corresponding video soon.

There are two things marketers must learn from this story.  First, the social Web is a powerful tool with the potential to make or break a brand.  Make it work for you, not against you.  Second, United breaks guitars.

5 Phases of the Best Viral Marketing

The Swine Flu got me thinking about how the phases of the best viral marketing campaigns are similar in growth to the rising threat levels of a flu pandemic.  Yes, I admit, I really have to get a life beyond marketing if I’m seeing marketing theory in the Swine Flu outbreak, but honestly, it’s the first thing I thought of when I saw the CDC’s Flu Pandemic Phases.  I need to get out more, but I digress.

Anyway, I put together a viral marketing theory pyramid with the 5 phases of the best viral marketing campaigns.  In my mind, the best viral marketing campaigns are not just campaigns that spread across the Internet, but rather the ones that people become emotionally involved in and speak out loud and vehemently about.  Take a look at my pyramid below, and then leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.  Do you see anything missing?  What would you add or change?

Click here to see a larger version of the image

Flutter – The Shortened Twitter

Have you seen the viral video online about Flutter – the “nanoblogging” site for people who find Twitter too much to handle?

The video asks if 140 characters are too much for you to read?  If so, try Flutter where flaps are limited to just 26 characters. 

What’s next?  Shutter – 10 characters only, no vowels (that’s Shttr). 

Hilarious!  Check it out below.

Viral Video on Fire – The Evolution of Dance

Every marketer would love to create an online video that goes viral.  The recipe for success has yet to be found.  If you can create a video like the Evolution of Dance (below), which has gotten nearly 112 million views since it was uploaded and nearly 300,000 comments, then you can feel fairly confident that you’re on the right track to success.  I should note that this video has been online for just under three years, but if you do the math, it comes out to over 11,000 views per day.  Not bad.  Wouldn’t you like your marketing videos to do that well?

Check out the Evolution of Dance below.  It’s hilarious and nostalgic at the same time.  In fact, I think just about everyone (at least in the U.S.) who lived at some point between 1950 to the present will enjoy this video.  No wonder it’s so popular.

Top 10 Viral Videos of 2008

Want to see the top 10 viral videos of 2008?  Check out the list compiled by Truveo.  It’s interesting that not one of the videos is part of a formal marketing or brand-building campaign.  Food for thought for marketers to keep in mind as they develop and implement onine strategies for 2009.

I will post my two favorite viral videos from Truveo’s top 10 list here though, because there is a reason why they went viral and were viewed by so many people – they’re great.

Axe Webisodes Still Going Viral Years After Launch

Back in 2006, the marketing team behind Axe Body Spray, deodorant and shower gel decided to create some webisodes.  Clearly targeted at men, the webisodes were funny, depicting news reports about the effects of Axe products.  It’s been about two years, and the videos are still going viral, making the rounds across the Internet to people who have yet to see them.

Both videos are amusing and borderline inappropriate for PG audiences.  I suppose you could say the same thing about most Axe commercials, too.

Check out two of the Axe webisodes below, and you’ll see why they’re still popular online.  A mix of humor and shock value along with content that is still relevant two years later make these videos somewhat timeless.  Truth be told, they could have been made today or five years ago.  Since content lives online for a very long time, creating timeless viral videos can impact your brand and your business for many years to come.

Warning: the first Axe video gets a bit distasteful toward the end, but is otherwise fairly harmless.

Warning: the second Axe video is a bit more crude in parts, but overall, only mildly distasteful.

HubSpot’s Hilarious Inbound Marketing Viral Video

I think every marketer will find this video as funny as I did.  Check out Rebecca Corliss of HubSpot singing about the horrors of inbound telemarketing to Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know.”

You Know a Customer Really Loves Your Product When …

He makes a YouTube video out of it!  Let’s face it – every brand would like a customer to make a positive YouTube video about its product then have that video go viral.  That’s what happened to one loyal fan’s video that is not only funny but impressive, too.  Check it out below.

 

Now it’s your turn to fill in the blank.  Leave a comment with your response to …

“You know a customer really loves your product when ___________.”

Don’t be shy, but do keep it clean.

Hat tip to SciFi.com for this story.