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The Scariest Rollercoaster In the World
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This Youtube video named The Scariest Rollercoaster In The World has 2.6 million views so far. I don’t think it’s for the reason audiences who watch the 11-seconds have in mind. Spoiler alert: it’s just a kid in a fake harness pretending to ride a roller coaster. When the hook turns out to be a stupid marketing trick, what a let down.
When does marketing not sound like a trick? Most often it’s justified by the fact that this is the only way to be heard. The loss leader. The markdown. The decoy. The today deadline. The buy 1 get 1. With all the marketing tricks, it’s funny that it works at all. Marketing should be an engaging design with a powerful single message handcrafted by artists.
I hear most marketing messages like they are street hustlers. They are asking for my money in odd ways. Since I create marketing and ads, I do actually listen rather than tune out. So I want them to be street performers. I’m happy to support those artists, dancers, musicians after a performance. Thanks for the show. Here’s a tip for the hat. If you want my money, you’ll have to do more than ask for it with a sense of entitlement. Please entertain or educate me.
I tried to recall a stupid marketing trick that I thought was clever. I was tricked once into a bar at Rutgers College back in the mid 90s. The playbill read Free Beer Tonight and I arrived to discover a band named Free Beer. Free Beer tricked me into becoming a patron but the band was good and they attracted one of the sororities which is all I wanted from a bar. At least this marketing trick was authentic in its stupidity. This was the same bar that would fill kiddy pools with beer for $2 on weeknights.
The scariest ride to me is just to be authentic. This is the struggle of all artists, to share vulnerable human moments through their craft. As I’ve blogged previously, the way to deeply, meaningfully connect with audiences is to deeply, meaningfully connect. It’s not a stupid marketing trick.
Image Notes: Liseberg Amusement Park, Sweden, courtesy of one-11 from Flickr creative commons photo community.