Viral Marketing (RACISM)

[Kung Fu Steve]

Sure, business is business. I'm sure he gets that.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss .

I love the ambition.

I also love he asked for feedback before making a move like this.

I also love everybody said "dumb idea, try again" -- hehehe

He's just trying to find a way to make content that goes viral - content that is shareable, that's remarkable, that's sensational, or as MJ puts it content that is "productocracy".

Any tips on how to create viral content for his audience ?

First things first: outcome is paramount.

If the goal is to get SALES -- there are MUCH easier ways to do that than trying to go viral.

The fastest and most reliable way to wealth and business success is to turn advertising into profit.

The best/most effective (from a sales standpoint) marketing messages simply say:

1. Here's what I've got
2. Here's what it's going to do for you
3. Here's how to get it

From there it's more about getting that message in front of the right people.

...

That being said -- if you're dead set on going "viral" there seems to be a proven formula in the book "Poop to Gold" by the Harmon Brothers.

In fact, one of our buddies on this forum did an incredible presentation at the fastlane summit a couple years ago about his experience with learning how to do it. He went and met the guys that did Squatty Potty, Purple, Dollar Shave Club, etc. -- the "viral" ads you're talking about all followed a specific formula... all done by the same group of guys...

He broke it down... did it... created a commercial for only about $30k and did an insane amount of sales!

You can start with that book and if you're committed we'll go from there

 

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[100k]

When it comes to sales best to stick with what is proven and tested.

I can't think of a single success racist ad campaign.
I can think of lots of unsuccess attempts though that went down in flames.

There are 100s of other approaches that are way less risky that would get a much better and reliable ROI.

Could it work? Maaaaaaaybe.
Is it worth taking the risk with your own business? No.

*Also unlike any other approach if it doesn't work it will have done damage to your personal reputation.
No one says "oh there is that guy that lost money on FB ads", they will say "oh there is that racist dude" through.

I couldn't think of more needlessly risky business move in the current political environment.

Every now and then a famous brand will put out shocking/racist stuff, get lots shares/publicity and then "apologize" because they didn't know what they were doing.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss .

I love the ambition.

I also love he asked for feedback before making a move like this.

I also love everybody said "dumb idea, try again" -- hehehe



First things first: outcome is paramount.

If the goal is to get SALES -- there are MUCH easier ways to do that than trying to go viral.

The fastest and most reliable way to wealth and business success is to turn advertising into profit.

The best/most effective (from a sales standpoint) marketing messages simply say:

1. Here's what I've got
2. Here's what it's going to do for you
3. Here's how to get it

From there it's more about getting that message in front of the right people.

...

That being said -- if you're dead set on going "viral" there seems to be a proven formula in the book "Poop to Gold" by the Harmon Brothers.

In fact, one of our buddies on this forum did an incredible presentation at the fastlane summit a couple years ago about his experience with learning how to do it. He went and met the guys that did Squatty Potty, Purple, Dollar Shave Club, etc. -- the "viral" ads you're talking about all followed a specific formula... all done by the same group of guys...

He broke it down... did it... created a commercial for only about $30k and did an insane amount of sales!

You can start with that book and if you're committed we'll go from there

Nice. Just found a decent video by those Harmon Brothers.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yVSiUxbiDE


OP, check out this video below - a solid viral formula that works and you can probably do it for under $500.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYZWvZn1wrM

 

[broswoodwork]

I’m gonna go against the grain and say this depends entirely on the product you’re selling, and the expectations set for your brand.

Where giant corporations get in trouble is they brand themselves as inclusive, yet their ads are perceived as racist. There’s a disconnect which causes the outrage.

Say you’re selling American flag pants...most likely your target market is conservatives with American Pride.

Here’s your controversial ad: A man wearing the pants walks to the Starbucks bathroom, sees signs that say “Gay”, “Queer”, “Non-Binary”, “Gender-Fluid”.

Then increasingly more ridiculous ones like “Fish”, “Attack Helicopter”, “Michael Jackson”.

He instead walks into the bathroom labeled “American”.

Roll credits.

Offensive to some, relatable to many.

And as the outrage grows, your market only wants to support you more to piss off the crybabies.

 

[Fox]

Every now and then a famous brand will put out shocking/racist stuff, get lots shares/publicity and then "apologize" because they didn't know what they were doing.


Nice. Just found a decent video by those Harmon Brothers.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yVSiUxbiDE


OP, check out this video below - a solid viral formula that works and you can probably do it for under $500.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYZWvZn1wrM

I can’t think of any where it’s been a net win - if someone has examples go for it.

To me it just seems like a massive gamble - maybe it works but why take the risk.

 

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[Jon L]

not that you need another vote, but I just want to pile on. Hell No. Don't do it.

 

[Clueless Newbie]

Not a good idea. What if your racist marketing goes viral and your face ends up on the home page of CNN. Now you are branded as a racist all over the internet. This is worse than going to jail for few days.

Not to mention, you'll probably get death treats too.

 

[sparechange]

Every now and then a famous brand will put out shocking/racist stuff, get lots shares/publicity and then "apologize" because they didn't know what they were doing.


Nice. Just found a decent video by those Harmon Brothers.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yVSiUxbiDE


OP, check out this video below - a solid viral formula that works and you can probably do it for under $500.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYZWvZn1wrM

Thanks! gonna check this out

 

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[Roli]

I’m gonna go against the grain and say this depends entirely on the product you’re selling, and the expectations set for your brand.

Where giant corporations get in trouble is they brand themselves as inclusive, yet their ads are perceived as racist. There’s a disconnect which causes the outrage.

Say you’re selling American flag pants...most likely your target market is conservatives with American Pride.

Here’s your controversial ad: A man wearing the pants walks to the Starbucks bathroom, sees signs that say “Gay”, “Queer”, “Non-Binary”, “Gender-Fluid”.

Then increasingly more ridiculous ones like “Fish”, “Attack Helicopter”, “Michael Jackson”.

He instead walks into the bathroom labeled “American”.

Roll credits.

Offensive to some, relatable to many.

And as the outrage grows, your market only wants to support you more to piss off the crybabies.

Yeah, because everyone knows that gay people are unpatriotic, with no sense of humour, and why would you want their money anyway? Best to alienate all sections of society apart from the ones you relate to, who needs their support anyway?

 

[TinyTim]

I’m gonna go against the grain and say this depends entirely on the product you’re selling, and the expectations set for your brand.

Where giant corporations get in trouble is they brand themselves as inclusive, yet their ads are perceived as racist. There’s a disconnect which causes the outrage.

Say you’re selling American flag pants...most likely your target market is conservatives with American Pride.

Here’s your controversial ad: A man wearing the pants walks to the Starbucks bathroom, sees signs that say “Gay”, “Queer”, “Non-Binary”, “Gender-Fluid”.

Then increasingly more ridiculous ones like “Fish”, “Attack Helicopter”, “Michael Jackson”.

He instead walks into the bathroom labeled “American”.

Roll credits.

Offensive to some, relatable to many.

And as the outrage grows, your market only wants to support you more to piss off the crybabies.

Are you being genuine?

An anti-gay advert in 2020 - good luck with that. This really wouldn't work out as you think. It would just make you hated. No one would want to be associated with that either, well, other than a few extremists.

 

[broswoodwork]

Yeah, because everyone knows that gay people are unpatriotic, with no sense of humour, and why would you want their money anyway? Best to alienate all sections of society apart from the ones you relate to, who needs their support anyway?

Are you being genuine?

An anti-gay advert in 2020 - good luck with that. This really wouldn't work out as you think. It would just make you hated. No one would want to be associated with that either, well, other than a few extremists.

I'm 99% certain he was just doing a bit of devil's advocacy for a narrow channel where op's strategy would get any traction at all. I don't believe those are his particular views.

I sure hope this thread doesn't turn into a chair throwing fest where we all start infighting... and I sincerely hope I'm not adding any fuel to the fire with this reply.

Maybe given the inflammatory nature, and op got a bunch of constructive feedback, it could be locked for all of our protection?

 

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[100ToOne]

I'm an Arab.

I think if I saw an Arab acting as a terrorist and then kitkat shows up saying: "Take a break, have a kitkat", I'd laugh, then get angry and boycott kitkat and call the actor a traitor lol

I think most people are sensitive. They'll definitely take it as offensive.

 

[Ernman]

That being said -- if you're dead set on going "viral" there seems to be a proven formula in the book "Poop to Gold" by the Harmon Brothers.

In fact, one of our buddies on this forum did an incredible presentation at the fastlane summit a couple years ago about his experience with learning how to do it. He went and met the guys that did Squatty Potty, Purple, Dollar Shave Club, etc. -- the "viral" ads you're talking about all followed a specific formula... all done by the same group of guys...

He broke it down... did it... created a commercial for only about $30k and did an insane amount of sales!

You can start with that book and if you're committed we'll go from there

Great advice from Kung Fu Steve as always.

 

[Johnny boy]

Hello! Just had a fresh idea in my head & wanted to hear some thoughts!

Do you think it would be a bad idea to include racist humor in a marketing video? Yeh yeh, sounds like insanity but hear me out, sure people have different styles of humor like Louis CK or Dave Chapelle, but what if we had a funny poke at a certain demographic that would actually feature the person race being targeted?

For example, everyone knows the typical joke about Asians and driving. If you had a simple product, showcasing Asian people in a car driving around and making jokes to each other in a demonstration marketing video (lets just say the product is GPS mounted on the windshield and the said Asian people are struggling to navigate around so the solution to their problem is using the GPS)

Is that social suicide? I feel like a funny video like that would spread like wildfire on Instagram & Youtube, netting tens of millions of views online and a % of front end sales?

Crazy?

do it lmao

 

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[PizzaOnTheRoof]

Yeah, because everyone knows that gay people are unpatriotic, with no sense of humour, and why would you want their money anyway? Best to alienate all sections of society apart from the ones you relate to, who needs their support anyway?

Just giving an example that doesn’t end in complete destruction of OPs brand image.

Inclusive is better then exclusive...but that’s not what OP asked about.

And really the ad is less about gay people and more a commentary about our society today.

 

[PizzaOnTheRoof]

Are you being genuine?

An anti-gay advert in 2020 - good luck with that. This really wouldn't work out as you think. It would just make you hated. No one would want to be associated with that either, well, other than a few extremists.

Just playing devils advocate my guy.

You could replace the bathroom signs with different religions, and the American Pants with Atheist Pants.

Same concept.

OP asked about using inflammatory advertising that could maybe work, so I gave an example.

I wonder if Redneck Bank is offensive to rednecks...

 

[Kid]

Story time.
A guy approaches the restaurant cashier and says he didn't get the free tissues with his order.
Cashier is giving out new set of tissues and says "(something) you people".
Now, the person (i think he was afro American) sues owner for a hefty sum.
"You people" was perceived as racism describing minority of that person, and the restaurant was MacDonald's.

I hope you have budget of MacDonald's legal team, or at least have good lawyer as a friend.

 

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[ApparentHorizon]

nonono You're doing it wrong.

You're supposed to outrage the fake woke culture. That way they blog about you for the next week and give you that sweet sweet link juice.

Wait a couple of weeks, then push all the articles down to the second page and have all of your properties come up.

 

[Tourmaline]

Hello! Just had a fresh idea in my head & wanted to hear some thoughts!

Do you think it would be a bad idea to include racist humor in a marketing video? Yeh yeh, sounds like insanity but hear me out, sure people have different styles of humor like Louis CK or Dave Chapelle, but what if we had a funny poke at a certain demographic that would actually feature the person race being targeted?

For example, everyone knows the typical joke about Asians and driving. If you had a simple product, showcasing Asian people in a car driving around and making jokes to each other in a demonstration marketing video (lets just say the product is GPS mounted on the windshield and the said Asian people are struggling to navigate around so the solution to their problem is using the GPS)

Is that social suicide? I feel like a funny video like that would spread like wildfire on Instagram & Youtube, netting tens of millions of views online and a % of front end sales?

Crazy?

Race based humor is not necessarily racist. Stereotypes are not inherently racist.

If you are not putting one race down or raising another one up, as in claiming a race is inferior or superior, and if you are not being prejudice, then it's probably not racist.

Unfortunately the media has totally distorted the meaning of racism in to what you're describing, where, anything relating to race is deemed racist. Which is stupid and completely destroys the meaning and use of the word racism, and does not allow actual racism to be combated.

If you were to look at a lot of stand up comedy, you will find many play on stereotypes. They're not racist however, and typically racism is not at all tolerated by people in the USA. I recently watched Jo Koy's stand up on Netflix and nearly the entire thing is talking about various stereotypes, mostly Asian. 0% racist.

The ad you're considering making is in line with this, and if done well it could be great.

 

[Kevin88660]

Yeah, because everyone knows that gay people are unpatriotic, with no sense of humour, and why would you want their money anyway? Best to alienate all sections of society apart from the ones you relate to, who needs their support anyway?

Gay men on average have higher education, income and also importantly have high disposable income due to not having children.

Maybe only 3 percent of the general population is gay, but when you move up the income ladder to the top 20 percent you found that around ten percent of the men are gay.

It is not uncommon to have gay men in their mid 30s and 40s to have six figures at their disposal to do investment. Straight couples at the same age (after having children) are usually broke.

 

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