relationships with consumers and useful,
or strange-looking items, into entertaining or even comedic tools. This mindset
helped changed a need-based or practical
forum into a fun environment. Now consumers are interested in the products that
marketers like Allstar and Offer promoted
because of the positive, humorous characteristics that they were reminded of when
first introduced to that product.
Let Your Antagonist Do the Work
Attitude goes a long way for success
in the social media realm, and having
both a “thick skin” and a
positive attitude paid off for
Offer, whose You Tube ventures brought him into the
mainstream. It also acted as
an irritant to Mays, who was
selling a product similar to the
Sham Wow. Mays challenged
Offer to a “pitch-off” and —
rather than backing down or
rejecting the challenge —
Offer accepted.
Consumer Reports tested
both products and picked
Offer’s Sham Wow as the
winner. Offer’s quirky-yet-comedic personality lends
itself to his product pitches and serves as
a reminder that, although the context
of social media may change, the value of
laughter and a positive attitude when it
comes to promoting a product is invaluable. And in the end, no one lost — both
brands were given great exposure and
engagement with consumers.
Allstar has been no stranger to viral
marketing themselves, as the Snuggie
began to receive attention from television
show hosts and those in late-night comedy after its product launch. “Saturday
Night Live,” Jay Leno and Ellen Dege-neres were just a few to take turns poking
fun at product. The product marketers
rolled with the punches, though, and
were rewarded with an excellent advertising context for the Snuggie. Thousands
online have since parodied Snuggie ads,
a phenomena Allstar has welcomed and
expected to see again this past holiday
season with the December 2010 release of
new holiday-themed TV spots (Response,
December 2010).
“We expected the ads to get sig-
nificant attention online based on what
we’ve seen in the past — Snuggie ads are
extremely viral,” Flynn told Response in
December. “The additional component
of online/viral was integral to the success
of the campaign last year. We still receive
millions of impressions online and this is
in addition to a multimillion dollar retail
ad support campaign.”
By embracing the humor behind a
Social media sites such as You Tube
offer another consumer touch point for
marketers like Snuggie, whose You Tube
channel garnered more than half a million
views of its Macarena and holiday ad
campaigns.
brand’s message — communicated most
effectively to consumers through channels such as You Tube — products that
may have been previously ignored or
seemingly forced onto consumers via pop-up and banner ads became comedic and
interesting simply because their context
changes from someone simply explaining
why the product is useful to a reminder
of laughter, comedy or their favorite comedian when viewing the products again.
The desire to see and interact with these
products in person becomes intriguing to
consumers and becomes an accessible reality thanks to As Seen On TV stores and
products sold in retail such as Bed Bath &
Beyond, Wal-Mart and novelty shops.
Moving Forward
Social media is an invaluable tool in
successful product sales because they have
— at their core — effective contexts used
in direct response marketing: quick com-
mentary, rapid response, and immediate
networking and content sharing with a
massive group of people, in a positive,
This method exemplifies direct
response at its best: looking ahead far
enough to predict what products or serv-
ices consumers will want and how those
should be presented, without losing sight
of their intended audiences’ needs and
situational context. Social media plat-
forms today offer — perhaps for the first
time in DR history — the opportunity to
positively and actively engage individuals
in real time, simply by being present in
their friends and/or acquaintances social
network.
Once this realization is fully grasped
and properly implemented, either for
marketers or in the eyes of consumers, the
name that comes before the “wow” won’t
matter, because all that will float through
the individuals’ minds is, “Wow! I need
one of those.” ■
