Blog 8: Comment on External Blog: “‘Alex from Target’: Can I Do This With My Brand?”
The author of this blog, Markus Gierler, saw the recent internet sensation ‘Alex from Target’ got vial and how Target is getting lots of attention from this, he discuss whether this ‘viral’ phenomena would be a good marketing strategy for businesses. However, by viewing them from an academic view with diffusion and market creation, he suggested that this is not a suitable marking method due its complexity for it to work.
To a large extent I agree with his argument. Marcus mentioned that the success of the innovation of ‘Alex from Target’ mostly depends how people view this Alex. If that is the case, then wouldn’t it be a risky yet abstract approach? It is very hard to pull it out as the message is relatively hard to understand and rather hidden and subtle. And even so, it might not necessary help sell the company.
A similar example a part from ‘Alex from Target’ would be a leaked video few years ago of Chuck Liddell, a heavyweight champion, working out with his girlfriend that time naked in a gym taken by a relatively low quality video camera, however, it turned out to be a viral campaign for Reebok. A lot of people are confused and disgusted by the video, instead of focusing on the pair of Reebok Chuck is wearing, all attention is turned to the naked Chuck. It is even worse when people realised that it is a campaign for Reebok, it doesn’t particularly help sell the shoes. Sure Reebok got attention from this, but is it a good or bad one? Not only the advertisement is confusing and misleading, but also doesn’t help Reebok’s reputation.
This might be the same case for Target. Of course I’m not saying this would damage Target’s image, but instead is the attention more on ‘Alex from Target’? or Target itself? (assuming Target is behind this, which they calmed they aren’t.) Which also correlate what Marcus is trying to say that it is not longer diffusion of innovation, but instead it became more of a ‘social process of transformation’ rather than a marketing tool.
Although this method may not seem feasible, it doesn’t mean company cannot come up with innovative way of advertisement that can go viral. For example the company who made the movie ‘Carrie’, posted a prank video a few years ago, or ‘The Last Exorcist’ pranked on Chatroulette, both showing the movie name right after the video. Those got a lot of views and attention, and got viral very quickly as it is something fresh and surprising, yet clearly show what is it promoting with a fitting theme, at the same time attracting a lot of sales for both movies.
Reference:
- Giesler, Markus. “‘Alex from Target’: Can I Do This With My Brand?” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Nov. 2014. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/markus-giesler/alexfromtarget-can-i-do-t_b_6097452.html>.
- Evans, Dayna. “Who Is Alex From Target, and Why Is Teen Twitter Obsessed With Him?” Gawker. N.p., 3 Nov. 2014. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://gawker.com/who-is-alex-from-target-and-why-is-teen-twitter-obsess-1653969291>.
- “Chuck Liddell and Girlfriend Naked In Reebok Viral Video.” 5thRoundcom UFC News Play by Play Results Rumors and More. N.p., 26 Feb. 2010. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://www.5thround.com/24414/chuck-liddell-and-girlfriend-naked-in-reebok-viral-video/>.
- Rosenberg, Adam. “‘The Last Exorcism’ Chatroulette Prank Gets The Word Out (NSFW).” Movies Blog RSS. N.p., 27 Aug. 2010. Web. 06 Nov. 2014. <http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/08/27/the-last-exorcism-chatroulette-prank-gets-the-word-out-nsfw/>.