I'm sick of viral marketing. It's a good idea, but it has been way too over done. Remember a year or so ago in St. Louis where the cardinals billboards were allegedly "vandalized" and one morning and the whole city was talking about the missing birds from the billboards. Well that was one thing...now in Boston an entire city is up in arms because a viral campaign was mistaken for a terrorist attack. Find out more here.
This is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of. Seriously people, the feds have to take things seriously. If they hadn't taken it seriously, and it ended up being the work of a terrorist, who would be laughing then? There's a line between viral... between funny... between witty... between smart... between genius design and going too far and this was too far. It would have been completely different had the feds been notified, maybe the Mass. department of transportation (seeing as they were affixed to bridges). Let people know so there isn't a mass panic, and people can discover and enjoy your marketing. The funniest part of all is that the agency responsible for this stunt, Interference Inc, has taken down their website. I'd hate to be one of their other clients right about now.
3 comments:
I saw a report on Fox News Channel that the stunt cost the city of Boston $750,000. That's a lot of kibble!
Still...the 70s Hairstyles Press Conference...you gotta give them that.
Yeah but you've gotta say, if exposure was the goal, they certainly succeded! Remember when coke changed the flavour? That was a marketing sensation. I rekon virals on the way out though, I wrote about it here, http://breadlinedesign.com/the-end-of-viral/
take care!
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