Industry Experts Weigh In On Marketing & Creativity

One of the hardest things to do with social media marketing and marketing on the web in general is reach people.  It’s easy in a brick and mortar storefront, because they’re right there.  They’re in your store, they’re in your community and it’s easier to reach them.  In a virtual environment you have a much more difficult time with viral marketing, branding, connection, engagement – all of it.

So I’ve managed to dig up some great quotes.  Ones that fall heavy because they come from marketers and PR peeps that are way up there.  They’re great words to help any marketer reach out and connect with customers.  There’s plenty here for anyone to chew on.

Christian Haas / Goodby, Silverstein & Partners

1.) “Unless you’re Paris Hilton, no video is guaranteed to go viral. A guide for creating a successful viral campaign is as effective as a tutorial on how to win the lottery. OK, you’ll learn the basics like ‘you don’t win if you don’t play,’ but that’s about it. Viral work is, for the most part, unpredictable.”

2.) “One theme [of viral marketing] will likely recur: originality. Originality that draws on popular culture or is so brilliant that it becomes popular culture.”

3.) “Advertisers need to break through not by pushing yet another ad, but by giving people something they actually would want to watch, interact with and share. That often involves approaching advertising differently, taking risks and not doing things that are proven to work. Best practices are, by definition, the antithesis of innovation.”

Lynn Power / ArnoldNYC

4.) “Don’t try to manufacture coolness or try to be hip; consumers can see through that. Just be true to who you are, understand your DNA and make it relevant to people today.”

5.) “It’s essential to have a point of view that puts a stake in the ground and breaks through the clutter.”

Craig Allen & Jason Kreher / Wieden & Kennedy

6.) “If you look at the higest-rated videos on YouTube, they’re not sad dramas, they’re men getting hit with inflatable balls or animals falling off things. Younger generations love humor, which is why advertising is using increasing quantities of it to sell things. People like it. It works.”

Linus Karlsson & Paul Malmstrom / Mother New York

7.) “[Companies] can’t just keep talking and saying the same old things. They need to listen, interact, and be somewhat interesting, just like any person who wants to be taken seriously.”

8.) “Originality and unexpectedness are superpowers. Surprisingly, very few brands use them as such. They’re hard to master and far away from a science or anything you can test. That’s probably why you don’t see more truly original and unexpected communication today.”

9.) “The brain wants to have fun. If you keep thinking about that every day, you’re always going to be interesting and relevant. The brain hates boring and expected.”

Note:  These are excerpts from an interview called the Mad Mad World of Advertising, put out in the July 2010 issue of Delta Airlines’ Sky magazine

To Your Success,
Joerg Weishaupt

P.s. Get more information on social media and marketing in my free primer "Building A Successful Marketing Strategy". Sign up for your free copy today.

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