You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow. Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here. -Mark SchaeferI wanted to show you this awesome music video because it’s creative, hilarious and it also reinforces a theme I’ve been writing about over several months …
Toyota paid big bucks to produce this YouTube video. It’s not meant for TV. It’s meant for the viral web … and viral it went. Point one: The big guns are pouring on to the social web. And they will dominate.
This video is about a minivan. But it is a ton of fun. Doesn’t it just make you forget all those annoying little Toyota brake problems? Point two: To cut through the clutter, you have to be entertaining. In fact, the pressure to be entertaining is going to intensify for all of us if we want to cut through the clutter. The actual car is secondary in this piece. In fact, not a single product feature is even mentioned.
Point three: Small businesses are not necessarily going to be squeezed out of the social web, but the expectations for quality content are going to be high. Get ready.
Final point: Content is king baby. Yeah, you have to develop relationships but you get there through content. Send your kids to journalism school. Seriously. The future for writers is bright.
By the way, my buddy Ike Pigott turned me on to this little video gem. We’ve never met but we’re going to see Rush in concert together in September. Viva La Twitter. Rock on.
What do you think about this trend? What would you say if your ad agency came to you and suggested spending $500,000 on a two-minute video that actually makes fun of your product? How does this build an emotional connection to mini-vans? To Toyota?
