We say this over & over again so maybe, now that there's some proof, people will start to listen. You can use whatever tactic you want. You can go viral; use WOM; get yourself some UGC. If your product is crap, it WON'T MATTER. Dare I say, you can dress a pig with lipstick...
What's interesting is that in another story in the Post, they talk about the HBO show True Blood. This show had some of the best hype around. Cool billboards, viral ads, the whole magilla. And you know what? It was one of the worst premieres on HBO. It averaged 1.4 million viewers. That's a good youtube viewership!
The lesson. Make good stuff and people will come to you. Crappy stuff + great buzz generally doesn't matter.
BUZZ may be better left to the bees.
Turns out that shows which drum up vast amounts of attention before they debut are just as likely to flop as shows no one ever heard of, a new study reveals
Case in point: "90210," the highly-anticipated sequel to the iconic '90s teen drama.
In Week 2 of its much-hyped run, the show lost nearly a third of its audience compared to its debut.
How often does this kind of thing happen?
The answer is - a lot.
"The problem is that many times shows don't live up to their own buzz," says Steve Sternberg, executive vice president of Magna, the giant media buying company behind a new study of how much pre-premiere buzz actually helps shows.
"All the buzz in the world is only designed to get viewers to tune in once."
Remember last season, when new series ranging from "The Bionic Woman" to "Cane" appeared on every magazine cover, got heaps of attention on nightly entertainment shows like "Access Hollywood" - and ultimately ended up in the ditch after they drew big opening-night numbers?
Buzz does it's job. Getting people to connect with the product through your advertisements, even if it's only once, is a huge accomplishment.
I think its a totally different problem if your brand, product, advertisement, and corporate has consistency issues. For example, if the advertisement promises something that isn't delivered.
Posted by: acplus3 | September 19, 2008 at 03:52 PM
That's a good point, there certainly is a different value set for TV shows vs. brands when it comes to buzz. Although in the end, a bad product won't survive no matter how much buzz it gets. As you said, when advertisement promises something that isn't delivered, people will walk away.
Posted by: David Polinchock | September 19, 2008 at 03:55 PM