Viral Marketing in Da House, Ja!

Last night during the Oscars, I saw a commercial from VW that literally made me laugh out loud while sitting on my couch. BTW, my wife is a huge Reese Witherspoon fan so it was a good Oscar experience all around. Volkswagan ran the third installment of their ”Un-pimp Your Ride” campaign. What was brilliant about this commercial is not only that it made me laugh, but also it was effective:They did an excellent job at making me remember it was VW behind the commercial. Not all funny commercials do such a good job of this.

• It has virally spread across the Internet — and you can bet this was intentional. Just this morning I found the spot on a web site and showed it to a friend of mine who in turn has already shown it to a couple of his friends. His comment was, “And what a great car to put into this ad.”
• VW continued their “hip and trendy” brand image with this campaign … a key factor in purchase intent for viewers down the road.

Now I’ve been accused of having the mentality of a 14-year-old adolescent boy when it comes to humor, but VW’s Austin Powers type approach to characters and their ability to make fun of their own German-engineering background is what made this so funny … and effective.

VW gets it.

Another of my favorite publications is IFR Magazine is a print newsletter for instrument-rated pilots (yes, I’m a private pilot and spend way more money on this than I want to admit). Every month the very first thing I read is the “Overheard on the Air” section. It has 4-5 quick transcripts of funny things overheard between pilots and air traffic control. I’ve even sent in one of my experiences and it was published (a very proud moment, to be sure).

 is a print newsletter for instrument-rated pilots (yes, I’m a private pilot and spend way more money on this than I want to admit). Every month the very first thing I read is the “Overheard on the Air” section. It has 4-5 quick transcripts of funny things overheard between pilots and air traffic control. I’ve even sent in one of my experiences and it was published (a very proud moment, to be sure). is a print newsletter for instrument-rated pilots (yes, I’m a private pilot and spend way more money on this than I want to admit). Every month the very first thing I read is the “Overheard on the Air” section. It has 4-5 quick transcripts of funny things overheard between pilots and air traffic control. I’ve even sent in one of my experiences and it was published (a very proud moment, to be sure).Obviously humor is just one method of viral marketing, but it’s a very powerful and effective one. Unfortunately it’s one that many publishers don’t take advantage of. For some reason it’s as if we’re too “professional” to introduce humor into the equation. We’re afraid of not being taken seriously. Or maybe we’re too busy to find out what’s really funny to our readers. But humor builds community and community leads to revenue opportunities.

It doesn’t have to be a high-dollar video ad to be funny either. Maybe it’s a simple column on funny stories from the field, irreverant user titles in a discussion forum, conversational and self-deprecating language in your site use agreement. Publishers, ask yourself these questions:

• What makes my readers laugh?
• What are “pain points” that they can relate to?
• What are my hang-ups on using humor in my publication (online or offline)? How can I get a ‘tude and not take myself so seriously?
• How can I package this into a product that readers will love and be able to share easily with others?
• How can I package this into a product that advertisers would buy?
• What advertisers are progressive enough to get the value that humor can have on their brand?

Humor is good. Humor builds community. Humor builds an affinity for your brand and encourages participation. Humor makes others want to share the experience and thus share your message and brand with others. Don’t be afraid to be a bit irreverant. GOOD humor, well executed, makes good business sense for publishers and marketers alike.

Plus it’s just plain fun to laugh and make others laugh