Today I was in a room with a few marketers and creatives who thought throwing up a "spot" on you tube was worthy of a consumer conversation. I thought I was going to pull my hair out. (I know i am supposed to be educating - but the audience has heard this message from me more than once and in a few different scenarios...not arrogance...just frustration)
Common think about it...How many marketers put a short film on YouTube every day in the hope that it’ll become the next viral phenomenon only to see it fall flat on its face? Get out of your EGO. What makes them think that their video will gain worldwide exposure when 80,000 other marketers have done the same thing that very day? We love that marketers that are willing to take risks and try new platforms, but the fact that so few of them succeed means that most of them still don’t get it.
The media is NOT the message. Just because YouTube is hot does it mean people care about a marketing message that is stuffed on it. The content has to be great and relevant to the adolscent boys/girls who are watching.
Enter the Heidies! A campaign launched for Diesel underwear has received attention by creating a big conversation worthy idea and seeing where it went. It seemed to have worked, with millions visiting the Diesel website, a lot of PR buzz and likely accolades at the Cannes ad festival.
The reason it is successful is because it has Diesel knows its audience, it has a great strategy, played off a new platform and is telling a story worthy of me repeating it here and then they used all the right media mix to invite consumers into the story line.
