Girleek

This week-end, with some friends, we had a conversation which drove us little by little to the concept of word of mouth. We spoke first about movies, and we finally come to buzz marketing. When we talk about word of mouth,  we came to the conclusion that it’s not simply the fact of talking about something but something more,  recommending a product, someone, or an experience. Because this two actions are very different. For example, I can say : I saw the movie He’s just not that into you yesterday and it was not bad as I expected. Or… Yes Man is a really good movie, you have to see it! This two affirmations can engender two different actions for the person I’m talking to. The power of word of mouth has the ability of encouraging someone to do something. Simple conversation vs recommendation. Inaction vs action. Then, we talk about a French viral marketing campaign called The Cell Experience. Have you heard about that? A man is locked in a cell during 5 days and the more people connect on the website, the more he experiences stupid things. If he holds on until the end, he wins 5000 euros. I don’t really know why people have so much passion for this, except to face human stupidity. Is it voyeurism? Is it a good campaign?  Which link with the advertiser who is a content provider for mobiles (Zaoza)?
Hum. Let me depict you the situation.
1000 visits > They put heavy metal in the cell during 2 hours
5000 visits > Two beautiful girls come to wax him
22 000 visits> A man who ate chili during 4 days shares the cell with him
30 000 visits > We make him eat foul courses
45 000 visits > a goat enters in the cell
60 000 visits > a bear attacks him
70 000 visits > he has to wear a sumo wrestling costume all day
80 000 visits > he has to cycle 10 km
90 000 visits > food battle with sexy girls
100 000 visits > we cut him an arm

Is it the kind of campaign we need to make people speak about you? Yes, saturday we spoke about that but we thought it was completely stupid. This morning, I watched an interview of the man, the guinea pig. He told us that he accepted to do that to do somebody a favour. Some days ago, he still worked at mac donald but he couldn’ t refuse the proposition ’cause he was practically obliged to do this. I have no sympathy for the man, nor for the campaign or for the brand. Of course, this is called as “viral marketing campaign”. But according to how you receive it, it can service or deserve your image. It’s a great example of how people can talk about you but not necessarily positively. Buzz yes. Word of mouth? Yes if we consider that word of mouth can spread bad opinions. Moreover, when the speaker asked him if he was afraid of seeing his arm cut, he answered “we know that they won’t reach 100 000 visitors”. In his place, I wouldn’t be so sure…
Fake or not, I’m not really convinced.