There is an interesting read over on Transbuddha about the book The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. Not only is the post about the book, but it also includes his cutthroat opinions on the marketing and advertising world. The book refers to the theory of few cool kids liking the idea, or whatever, and the rest of society follows the crowd.
Everything in advertising these days is looked at in the sense, can it go viral? But, can you judge solely on the viral-ness of the trend. AlphaMonkey says, “…most of us realized long ago, that trends are essentially random phenomenon which succeed or fail largely due to timing, quality, and how receptive the public is to an idea at any given time.”
When you think about those fads that make it, and the pathetic ones that do not, look at the time they were thrown out into the world. If society is not ready for the certain trend, then theoretically you can reintroduce it at the more appropriate time and it should take off.
Yes, the Wii became the fastest selling console ever not because it was a revolutionary gaming device aimed at families instead of hardcore gamers, not because it launched with a groundbreaking entry in one of the most popular game titles ever (Zelda), and certainly not because it cost nearly $350 cheaper than its rival (which launched with fuck all for must-have titles), but because a handful of cool people liked it.
One word: Bullshit.
And we wonder why gaming advertising is so bloody awful. Or why commercials (like say, that horrid H&R Bloch spot with the vicious woman berating her obviously de-balled husband for buying tax software*) are so uniformly terrible? Or why 99% of ‘viral’ attempts made by most companies aren’t fit to lick the pastrami scented sweat from a Dom DeLouis’ Cannonball Run gag reel? You just don’t get it, Madison Avenue. And at this rate, you never will. Most importantly, you just don’t get us.
What matters? Content. Quality content will always rise, while crap (while often getting undue attention) typically settles to the middle. Timing. It’s 2008. You do ’subservient’ ANYTHING, and you deserve a boot to the crotch. But there are any number of bands, directors, writers, artists, etc who can tell you that there’s more than a fair share of luck in tapping into the right reaction/sentiment at the right time. I know this is scary for you, but this is important: You can’t change that, and you certainly can’t bottle it sell it like just another media buy (my apologies to Scaramouch from YesButNoButYes for appropriately that last phrase).
Tags: the tipping point, Transbuddha, Viral, Wii
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Sarah, I agree 100% with your basic argument. Then I look at “most popular” on YouTube.
Do you really wonder why advertisers think their stuff is cool??