No sooner had the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge started trending than social media marketers were trying to reverse-engineer it to figure out what made it go viral. It’s been dubbed “the viral event of the summer”. I’ve seen several write ups on how brands can apply the lessons of the Ice Bucket Challenge to their marketing and create the “next” ice bucket challenge (but to benefit their brands rather than a worthy cause like ALS).
Samsung even went so far as to literally replicate the Ice Bucket Challenge. But instead of raising awareness of ALS, they hijacked the stunt to show that the Galaxy S5 is waterproof, challenging Apple and Nokia to pour ice water on their phones too.
The marketing response to the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge reminds me of the marketing response to the 2012 Kony video. It’s tempting for marketers to think you could just add a “Kony” or an “Ice Bucket Challenge” to any marketing plan, as if “going viral” were an outdoor media buy or an FSI.
This is a reflection of the one-hit wonder mindset that many brands have with social media. I think that marketers who launch a single campaign with the intention of it “going viral” will be disappointed. The better strategy is to create a consistent stream of content over time, some of which may go viral.
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge worked precisely because it wasn’t engineered from the top down by marketers. It worked because the campaign originated with and was run by participants. The job of the ALS Association team was to amplify and fuel it when the magic happened, not to architect it. It also started small, without heavy-handed expectations that it would drive results.
Here’s a cartoon I drew on this topic inspired by the 2012 Kony video.
(Marketoonist Monday: I’m giving away a signed cartoon print. Just share an insightful comment to this week’s post by 5:00 PST on Monday. Thanks!)
