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Marketing Lessons from a 40-pound Cat
Article Description:
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A few months ago, my 10-year old son came to me insisting that I
"had" to see a video of a "40-pound cat." Now, I'm very
fond of cats and I've seen quite a few...some of which were
pretty darn big, but I'm certain I've never seen one bigger
than 20-pounds or so. I'd remember something like that.
Additional Article Information:
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911 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line
Distribution Date and Time: 2006-11-01 13:12:00
Written By: Judy Murdoch
Copyright: 2006
Contact Email: mailto:judy@judymurdoch.
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Marketing Lessons from a 40-pound Cat
Copyright (c) 2006 Judy Murdoch
Highly Contagious Marketing
http://www.judymurd
A few months ago, my 10-year old son came to me insisting that I
"had" to see a video of a "40-pound cat." Now, I'm very fond
of cats and I've seen quite a few...some of which were pretty
darn big, but I'm certain I've never seen one bigger than
20-pounds or so. I'd remember something like that.
Sure enough, on YouTube.com, there was a 40-second video showing
scenes from a typical day in the life of an enormous orange tabby
cat. For your viewing pleasure you can watch kitty sitting on a
chair, being carried a short distance by a human caretaker,
lumbering up the stairs, eating, and sleeping. Accompanying the
video was a rather strange, ominous soundtrack: perhaps
anticipating the consequences should kitty fail to lose weight.
The video is remarkably popular. On YouTube.com the "world's
fattest cat" video has been viewed over 24,000 times in the last
five months. On another video site, it's been viewed over
128,000 times since it appeared in September, 2005.
To my knowledge there's no multi-million dollar advertising
campaign. No postcard mailings or infomercials. Nor have I seen
the 40-pound cat on Oprah or on the Tonight Show. Despite this
lack of marketing support, hundreds of thousands of people
worldwide have watched this video.
This is a perfect example of a viral message. A message that
people eagerly share through word of mouth and email. It is an
organic phenomenon that occurs on its own with no outside
manipulation.
If you own a small or mid-sized business, imagine the potential
if your marketing message were viral. Perhaps you have even tried
to create viral marketing by encouraging your customers and
colleagues to spread the word but the results have been less than
spectacular.
What is it about the 40-pound cat video that has made it so
viral?
In a word, Novelty. Referral behavior (and sending an email
telling your friends to watch a particular video is most
definitely referral behavior) occurs because we want to look good
to others. One way to look good is to tell people about something
that we know they are not likely to have heard about or not known
about before. Most people have never seen a picture of a 40+
pound cat, let alone a video of one that is lumbering up a flight
a stairs.
This is not to suggest that you need to find a 40-pound cat or a
12 oz. Tea cup Chihuahua to encourage customers to get the word
out. You do, however, need to have something distinctive enough
about your products and services so that your customers get a
chance to look good by telling others about you.
FOUR WAYS TO IMPROVE NOVELTY
1. Use extremes. The 40+ pound kitty is a perfect example of
using an extreme to create novelty. As human beings, we have a
natural fascination with extremes: the biggest pizza (12-square
feet for $135), the smallest dog (a 6" Chihuahua), a man who ate
36 cockroaches in 1 minute, and so on.
Your business extreme doesn't need to be nearly so exotic.
Novelty is relative to the frame of reference used by your
customer. A liquor store can advertise the largest selection of
champagne or the most extensive selection of sake within a
"four-state region." Another example is a dockside restaurant
that bills itself as selling the "freshest fish in town unless
you catch it yourself."
2. Offer an extraordinary guarantee. Although they no longer use
it, the "30-minutes or it's free" guarantee made Dominos pizza
a household name. It was an audacious claim that no other pizza
delivery chain had made in such a wide-scale, public manner.
3. Limited Editions. You see limited editions in a variety of
products including soft drinks (Coca Cola Black), apparel (Gap
1969), games (60-year commemorative Monopoly edition), and
automobiles (2000 Vapor Blue VW Beetle). The cachet is that the
item is produced for a limited time and then pulled off the
market giving it a "one of a kind" collectible status.
4. Limited distribution. Luxury products and services have long
used the strategy of exclusive distribution to create an aura of
exclusivity. But more prosaic products have used limited
distribution to their advantage as well. For example, until the
mid-1980's, Coors beer was only available west of the
Mississippi. If you lived east of the Mississippi, Coors beer was
something of a status symbol because of its association with
Colorado and Rocky Mountain ski resorts.
NOVELTY WITHOUT TARNISHING PROFESSIONALISM
Those of you in traditionally conservative businesses such as
banking, healthcare, insurance, and legal services may feel
uncomfortable with the idea of novelty. After all, people give
you business because they trust you to protect what they most
cherish. Just keep in mind that novelty is RELATIVE to what
others in your industry are doing. For example, a financial
planner who works with professional athletes can use a "game
plan" metaphor for marketing her services. Done tastefully, this
adds enough novelty to provide a competitive advantage for
getting more "looking good" referrals.
Finding novelty in your products and services takes some
creativity and imagination but once you get the hang of it, you
may be surprised by the number of ways you can add distinction
within the range professional decorum.
CURIOUS ABOUT THE 40-LB. CAT?
As a last word, for those of you wanting a look at the one of the
world's fattest cats, you can watch the video by visiting:
http://www.youtube.
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Judy Murdoch helps small business owners create low-cost,
effective marketing campaigns using word-of-mouth referrals,
guerrilla marketing activities, and five-star strategic alliances.
To download a free copy of the workbook, "Where Does it Hurt?
Marketing Solutions to the problems that Drive Your Customers
Crazy!" go to http://www.judymurd
You can contact Judy at 303-475-2015 or judy@judymurdoch.
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