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June 17, 2004
Recovering From A Tarnished Brand
Seth Godin played an excelent experiment based on Bill Clinton as an brand icon for viral marketing. The lessons summarized by Seth himself:
1. viral stuff is often obvious, isn't it? In other words, if you're too clever, some people don't get it and it doesn't spread well. On the other hand, be too obvious and it'll just sit there. It's the fine line (sort of like the Tom Bihn launder tag) that makes something go. Obviously, I misoverestimated some readers.
2. brands don't guarantee a virus, but they sure can get in the way. Clinton's brand is so tarnished for a portion of the population that they'd likely refuse a cash gift from him. They certainly didn't bother to read the post until the end... they just decided they hated him, it, and by extension, me. Worth thinking about when you decide to trade in a little brand equity to move people to, say, an opt out spam program...
Posted by Basileios at June 17, 2004 07:49 AM
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