Triune Designs Blog: Web Design, Development, & Marketing

Years ago, Photoshop’s ease of use in editing software led to a huge explosion of advertising parodies. Marketers would release a new advertising image and then someone would slightly change the image to create something funny. The following are a couple of examples I quickly found on Flickr.

Windows Vista Product Parody

iPhone Commercial Parody

The YouTube Generation

Today, YouTube (along with the availability of video editing software) is aiding in a similar explosion of parodic items: videos. A while back, when I was doing some research for my Sonic Drive-In article I found that the number of parodic videos seemed to outnumber the originals by at least 2-to-1. That is huge! Think about how many more videos are now available on YouTube showing the Sonic brand in one form or another. Those videos provide additional marketing benefits companies just cannot buy.

A Mac Parody

In sticking with the computer theme from the images above, here is a video parodying the current set of Mac commercials.

From a marketing standpoint, parodies are great. People create videos that others will watch that are also based on branding you originally created. When I see these parodies I almost always think of the original commercial, and I believe I am not the only one who does this.

So, what is the lesson to take away from this? Create marketing materials that people find interesting. Some will then create parodies of your marketing material. This spreads the word about your company even further. The end result is that the parodies end up aiding your branding and marketing efforts.

Note: No computers or operating systems were harmed in the making of this blog post.

The photos are courtesy of re-ality and P/\UL.

Many proponents of the new rules of web marketing (or viral marketing) say that old-school advertising is becoming mostly useless. While I agree with this opinion, one way I do not agree with them concerns funny commercials.

Sonic Drive-In

Obviously commercials are not as effective today as in the past because it is easier than ever to block them out. People can use DVR’s to fast forward past commercials, they can use their remote controls to change channels when commercials are on. Even if neither of those options are available, people have become increasingly effective at tuning out unwanted incoming messages. (My friends call this phenomenon “crocking” because of a crocodile’s ability to use its third eyelid to block out incoming water from reaching its eye while still being able to see underwater.)

Funny commercials, however, have a great ability to draw people. If a funny commercial is on TV people will stop to watch and may even want to watch the same commercial multiple times. From a web marketing standpoint, funny commercials have an even greater potential: the word-of-mouth and (David Meerman Scott’s term) word-of-mouse effects.

People talk about funny commercials with their friends. They also try to find funny commercials online, and this is where most traditional marketers fall short of a good commercial’s potential (the aforementioned word-of-mouse effect). Traditional marketers could easily place their commercials on YouTube or even on their own website to allow people to come and view them online. Companies should make it easy for people to download, email or otherwise pass along these commercials to their friends. What better way to spread your brand than by allowing your willing and eager audience to pass commercials on to others (for free).

I found these Sonic Drive-In commercials on YouTube.

The burning question in my mind is why Sonic did not post them on YouTube? Rather, passionate viewers posted these commercials. If Sonic were being good web marketers, they would have immediately posted them online in the anticipation that viewers would try to find the commercials on the web and then show their friends, who would then show other friends, who would then show other friends…you get the point.

The lesson for all of us (small to large businesses) is to make sure you have as much material available for your potential customers as possible. If you make radio or television commercials, create a section on your website to hold them. Add your videos to YouTube. If you have print advertising, include them in a special section on your website. Regardless of what type of material it is, if your audience will find it interesting then make it available for them to find because they are looking.

Photo courtesy of wfyurasko