I will admit that I chuckled when I first clicked open the link to the 30-second viral spot, sent to me by a friend. The commercial -- produced for a High Point furniture store by a North Carolina-based production company -- takes a decidedly different approach to appealing to customers by playing the race card in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. The spot, which appears to be web-only right now, has gained more than 530,000 hits on YouTube as of today and received national attention on TMZ.com and other sites.
In talking about the true meaning of viral marketing and social media, I offered to my team here at Leapfrog this spot as an example of one way to create buzz for clients in this "gotta-break-through-the-clutter-to-be-successful" world in which we live. It has provoked some fairly fervent debate both here and through my Facebook and Twitter accounts, polarizing viewers pretty effectively. Here's the spot:
As a former intrepid reporter, I decided to phone "The Red House" to gauge the true measurement for any campaign -- whether it has successfully returned their investment or stimulated business. A very good-natured employee at the Red House shared with me that, since the videos launch on April 20, increased business at the store has not materialized, but inocuous phone calls -- asking questions like, "Do you serve Asians, too?" -- have mushroomed. I am sure this is at a cost to the business in labor and as a distraction.
So, to recap: Few would argue that the campaign has been wildly successful (perhaps, even by accident) at gaining worldwide notoriety for the store and for the producers of the spot. I have hard evidence that it has not -- yet -- produced big numbers in terms of sales. However, I do admit that the use of a very out-of-the-box approach to communications like this is almost mandatory these days -- whether you agree with the M.O. or not.
I am very interested in hearing what you think about this campaign, and its apparent early results, as well as your answer to the question posed in the title to this post.