Maybe you’ve seen this already — it and its variations have been viewed over 14 million times since they went up on YouTube two weeks ago — but it’s worth noting something about this video, which was underwritten by the gum company Stride: Nowhere but at the end does the company’s logo appear. Even then it’s on its own title screen.
Just think about that for a second.
I don’t know how much money it would cost to send a guy to 40-odd countries, but it has to be expensive, and in return for that investment Stride required no product placement, no logo placement, no nothing to suggest that this video is at all related to the company, except for the screen at the end which, as I’ve said, is not part of the video proper.
This is an extraordinary act of marketing. The video has obviously taken off and part of the reason it’s taken off is that it’s not tarnished by corporate interests. Matt had been making these videos for his personal website, they gained an audience, and rather than try to take over the videos Stride decided to simply fund the videos. This is the sort of goodwill that’s sorely lacking today. No, not the goodwill to fund world-wind expeditions, but the goodwill to stay out of the way of a good idea.
If you log onto Hulu.com to watch last night’s Daily Show you are required to watch a short (~15 second) commercial. The rest of the show is broken up by even shorter commercials that cannot be skipped. While ‘Brought to you by Brand X with limited commercial interruptions” is a nice leap away from the 2-3 minute commercial breaks during regular broadcasts, why not go even further? If Chili’s wanted to earn my goodwill (brand loyalty, anyone?) they ought to reply in turn (or really they ought to make the first volley in the goodwill-off) by replacing the commercial with, say, a splash screen that gives the user the option of either watching a commercial or skipping the commercial.
Of course no one would watch the commercial, but that’s the point. Chili’s would still be getting as many people to view their ad, but instead of a traditional commercial the ad would suddenly become an act of generosity (and therefore not really an ad at all, which I think any marketing professor will tell you is the best form of advertising to begin with). The user still confronts the Chili’s brand, but instead of “Annoying commercial I cannot skip” Chili’s you get Chili’s that’s allowing me to watch this show without any annoying commercials, which is why I’m on the internet to begin with” Chili’s.
Less than 1% of all commercials persuade me to inquire about a product or company, and of that percentage an even smaller amount garner from me anything I’d call affection. I have no idea what constitutes a successful commercial and I’m even less certain that companies actually know how to measure that success, but I am certain that most people hate commercials and most commercials are not successful. Stride has gotten around these issues by essentially removing themselves from what is (I guess; loosely) a commercial for their product. And I’ll tell you this much — I’m not going to soon forget Stride. What else could a chewing gum company ask for from a guy who doesn’t chew gum?
