Measurementcamp IV: where the influencers are
Alpha fans leading superfans, super fans leading normals, normals leading those that just don’t have clue. It’s a bit like Harry Potter this social media marketing lark – all muggles and non-magics.
This month’s MeasurementCamp - held at the Hotwire PR offices in Clerkenwell - was all about the fans and the novelty campaigns. Test case examples came from the Seesmic/Indiana Jones Crystal Skull campaign – a great idea that’s executed well to the perfect target audience.
Bloggers using Seesmic, the video blogging site, approached Paramount about covering the premier somehow. The studio paid for their flights and gave them access to the big four, Blanchett, Ford, Spielberg and Lucas that is, to interview at Cannes.
After rounds of controlled PR interviews Blanchett reached the seesmic folk. One blogger let his niece ask a question on Twitter, “What’s it like to play a baddie in a movie?”.
Once she got over the fact that she was being given unscreened questions Kate was putty in the hands of the little girl, “Oh it’s ok”, she said. “I’m not a baddie in real life”.
Que the movie star letting her guard down and them both chatting away like they’d known each other forever.
The Seesmic site went into meltdown, Media Guardian’s Jemima Kiss got in on the action, Twitter was buzzing and the Paramount guys had some very influential bottom-up PR for their film weeks before the release date. It would seem that the more something’s being talked about the more it’s selling.
The campaign obviously sold on the novelty factor The same thing again, I doubt, would generate such a “buzz”. A tone of voice isn’t quantifiable afterall - a movie star being interviewed by an 8 year old can’t be measured in Return on Investment terms.
Saying that Paramount made $101 million on opening weekend from Friday to Sunday for the movie – not all down to blog coverage, I’m sure. Nevertheless it worked so well because it was the Alpha fans, the real movie buffs, who informed the lesser fans and the news of the secret interview with the Hollywood A-lister spread out by word of mouth.
Sadly for organisations’ bean counters it’s often the campaigns that can’t guarantee an ROI, at the pitching stage, that are remembered the most.
This month’s MeasurementCamp - held at the Hotwire PR offices in Clerkenwell - was all about the fans and the novelty campaigns. Test case examples came from the Seesmic/Indiana Jones Crystal Skull campaign – a great idea that’s executed well to the perfect target audience.
Bloggers using Seesmic, the video blogging site, approached Paramount about covering the premier somehow. The studio paid for their flights and gave them access to the big four, Blanchett, Ford, Spielberg and Lucas that is, to interview at Cannes.
After rounds of controlled PR interviews Blanchett reached the seesmic folk. One blogger let his niece ask a question on Twitter, “What’s it like to play a baddie in a movie?”.
Once she got over the fact that she was being given unscreened questions Kate was putty in the hands of the little girl, “Oh it’s ok”, she said. “I’m not a baddie in real life”.
Que the movie star letting her guard down and them both chatting away like they’d known each other forever.
The Seesmic site went into meltdown, Media Guardian’s Jemima Kiss got in on the action, Twitter was buzzing and the Paramount guys had some very influential bottom-up PR for their film weeks before the release date. It would seem that the more something’s being talked about the more it’s selling.
The campaign obviously sold on the novelty factor The same thing again, I doubt, would generate such a “buzz”. A tone of voice isn’t quantifiable afterall - a movie star being interviewed by an 8 year old can’t be measured in Return on Investment terms.
Saying that Paramount made $101 million on opening weekend from Friday to Sunday for the movie – not all down to blog coverage, I’m sure. Nevertheless it worked so well because it was the Alpha fans, the real movie buffs, who informed the lesser fans and the news of the secret interview with the Hollywood A-lister spread out by word of mouth.
Sadly for organisations’ bean counters it’s often the campaigns that can’t guarantee an ROI, at the pitching stage, that are remembered the most.
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Comments
Thanks for the write up
Hi Will, No worries. I'm