February 2014 – Marketing Decoded

Why Fads Fade – The Invetable Death of Flappy Bird

As many of you know, Flappy Bird has held the #1 spot on Apple’s iTunes apps store and was downloaded over 50 million times The game’s young creator earn’s a pile of cash everyday by reaching this milestone and then mysteriously took it down. Whaaatt?? Too habit forming? Have you never succumbed to the mindless entertainment of Candy Crush saga, Farmville or P vs Z’s with zealot like intensity for several weeks and then realize, with surprise, that you haven’t even looked at the game in days. What turns us into crazed digital maniacs and as quickly makes us lose interest?

Why Fads Fade: The Inevitable Death Of Flappy Bird

Since the game has been removed from iTunes, enterprising eBayers have been selling preloaded smartphones for up to $90,000.

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/11/nintendo-denies-flappy-bird-legal-challenge

The Molson Beer Fridge campaign that launched in the summer was the most viral campaign of 2013 until the Westjet Christmas campaign.
The recent follow on campaign of the Molson Beer Fridge shows the fridge travelling to a remote island in the Phillipines along with a flat screen tv so friends can watch the Olympics:

Both of these are great examples of the NARRATIVE technique in marketing communications that we’ve been talking about in class, hooking viewers in with a story.

Both campaigns also have gone viral. These ads follow on our discussion also of the importance of ads being shared online after they play on tv. The Travelling Fridge is 3 minutes (!!) an exceptionally long and $$ tv ad.

For a more detailed conversation about the campaigns, here’s a good review:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/molson-takes-online-beer-fridge-ads-to-hockey-airwaves-and-points-beyond/article16039363/