Integrated Advertising that Doesn't Work for Me

Okay here's some Online Integrated Advertising that DOESN'T Work for Me and at the risk of being called mean spirited I'd thought I'd just share. Please feel free to disagree with me.

Forget the over the top acting on Mark Malkoffs part and just ask yourself what emotions are moved by this video?

Anger? Maybe. Disgust? Maybe. Fear? Not really. Joy not so much. Sadness? Nope. Surprise? A little. (I can't believe they talked Lisa Loeb into doing this)

There are no clear winners. At face value nothing really moves the needle.

From a concept standpoint "We're going to get Mark to invite Lisa Loeb into IKEA to sing for his wife." Wow! That's so romantic. Wow! How did you get Lisa Loeb? How cool is that? But the finished video doesn't feel like an emotionally engaging spectacle that would go viral on the internet.

Now this is from my point of view and I may be a little too close to this one. I've shopped at IKEA and I don't like it and I hate putting furniture together, I've worked with Lisa and I didn't enjoy it and I've seen Mark's videos and I feel they have so much potential but they just don't work for me.

On the other hand, if my Aunt Bea was still alive she would think Mark was adorable and she would find it so gosh darn cute that Mark got Lisa to sing for his wife. The only thing that would have made it better for Aunt Bea was if there was a white cat in the video. (Aunt Bea loved white cats)

Some how this video has touched me because I'm blogging about it. Maybe I'm just discussed because I think videos like this hurt the integrated advertising video business but hey, I'm sure people say the same thing about French Maid TV but FMTV has over 26 million downloads so the Maids must be doing something right.

As of this posting the "Lisa Loeb Plays for Mark in IKEA" video has had 434,114 on YouTube - not bad for 7 days. I'm not sure what they spent on getting Lisa and Mark to do this but if I was a local furniture store in Florida I would be very happy with 400,000 views in 7 days. If I was a global furniture brand? Not so much.

From the production side I think this video is fine. With a little editing it would make a great segment on Good Morning America or some cable television network and that's where I think it and Mark belong. Women viewers of The View or Regis and Kelly would eat this video up. This type of integrated advertising belongs in old media where old people would think it's adorable.

What can you do to avoid this pitfall? Plan.

Make a plan of what human emotions you feel you need to touch in order to move the needle and get your target demo to do what you want them to do.

If you are serious about using viral videos to reach your audience I would caution you to make sure your audience is made up of young males. Sure there are millions of women on the Internet but they are not the ones watching viral videos in big numbers - yet. My recommendations for emotions to target young males would be: Lust, Joy and Surprise. Translated: Make it Funny and Sexy.

Next, add the spectacle ingredient. Think about your product or service and come up with some spectacle that will get young guys' attention but still fits the promise of your brand and MAKE SURE YOU HAVE BRAND PERMISSION to do what you are going to do. To my knowledge Houston's restaurant chain does not have drive-thru windows.

The last thing, find people to produce your viral video who understand the viral video space and know the culture and websites that aggregate and reach young males. Believe it or not YouTube is not the only video sharing website out there. Other video sharing websites can be more influential in reaching young male influencers and every good marketer knows the power of infuencer marketing.