As we discussed earlier buzz marketing can help small business owners achieve high return on their marketing investment. We also showed you practical ideas that can generate buzz with your customer and community and improve your sales and customer loyalty. The primary ingredients required to create buzz are buzz-worthy products, suspense, conversation and scarcity.
Some companies have a knack for creating the buzz. Remember the TV commercial that Apple produced to introduce Macintosh computer. This is a must see commercial, along with host of other things Apple has done over the years. Besides Apple, number of other companies have generated buzz and made their brands famous by producing innovative, out-of-the-box stunts. Below are some of our favorites.
- Burger King created a website called subservientchicken.com which had a man in a chicken suit willing to perform actions that you type in. The site received over 20 million hits in its first few months through word-of-mouth.
- Old Spice create a highly successful viral campaign by creating series of YouTube videos featuring bare-chested Old Spice Man who would address people on Twitter via personalized commercials on YouTube.
- Taco Bell “purchased” Liberty Bell as an April Fool joke. The ensuing controversy created a large buzz for the brand and increased sales by over $500,000 in the next two days.
- DC Comics killed its most popular character Superman in 1993. The action created a huge uproar and press resulting in sold-out editions of the comic “The Death of a Superman.”
- Cartoon Network created havoc in the city of Boston after they planted many strange devices at various locations in the city. These devices were supposed to display a character from one of their shows with the lights. Unfortunately many people thought they were bombs and alerted authorities.
- Chicago White Sox staged a “Disco Demolition Night” where fans were urged to bring in vinyl disco LP records in exchange for 98 cent admission to a double-header. While they were expecting 5,000 or so fans to show up nearly 75,000 came in with their records. Many of them had to be turned away due to lack of seats.
- GM promoted new Pontiac G6 by giving away car to each of the studio audience members on Oprah Winfrey show. The promotion cost them nearly $8M; but resulted in big publicity for GM and the Pontiac brand.
- LifeLock, a company that provides identity theft protection services, created buzz when its CEO gave away his real social security number in print and broadcast ads and challenged the hackers to steal his identity.
- Richard Branson has been famous for performing number marketing stunts including first transatlantic boat ride and hot air balloon crossing. In the process he has promoted number of his companies under the Virgin brand.
- In 1950 NBC announced that they would broadcast from the town that names itself after its popular show Truth or Consequences. A town in New Mexico took up the challenge and made both the town and the NBC famous.
What other successful buzz tactics have you come across that are worth mentioning?
