Buzz Marketing: The Buddy Lee Case Study

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Buzz Marketing The Buddy Lee Case Study
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Viral - Buzz - Word of Mouth

• Valuable source credibility
• People more inclined to believe Word of Mouth
  Marketing than more formal means
• Receiver tends to believe that the communicator
  is speaking honestly (i.e. not receiving an
  incentive for their referrals).
• Not always true - paid opinion leaders IDed

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Not New, But New Potency

• Multi-level marketing in 60s '70s - Amway and
  Mary Kay Cosmetics
• The Blair Witch Project (1999) used Internet
  campaign to suggest that the film was a real
  event grossed nearly 250,000,000
• AI (2001) Trailers listed Jeanine Salla as
  Sentient Machine Therapist Google search lead to
  matrix of 40 websites providing the back story
• BMW Films (2002) Shorts directed by eight
  famous directors attracted nearly 55 million
  viewers and launched Clive Owens career.
• Burger King's Subservient Chicken campaign (2004
  until 2007), unbranded until the reveal, named
  top viral effort by Wired magazine

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Buzz and Social Media

• Use of social networking software as a platform
  for buzz marketing - Web 2.0
• Facebook has unveiled ad model that allows
  targeting of users based on their profile
  information and social contacts
• facebook.com
• youtube.com
• tripadvisor.com
• myspace.com
• digg.com

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Buzz Marketing Case

• Cross Campaign Creativity
• Teasers to Build Interest
• Buzz to Persuade without Mass Media
• Advertising to Launch Relationships
• Internet as a Return Destination
• In Store Contact as Ultimate Goal

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Buddy Lee

• In 1998 Fallon resurrected a 1920s window display
  doll for Lee Jeans Co. along with the 1940s Lee
  Jeans tagline "Can't Bust 'Em."
• Main campaign preceded by guerrilla marketing
  unbranded posters of the doll and a 6-minute
  mockumentary, "The Buddy Lee Story," which was
  aired in late night infomercial slots in select
  markets
• Built buzz and support for the Lee Dungarees
  Brand before Spike Jonze directed commercials
  aired

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The Challenge

• Big challenge for Lee to overcome
• Had generated buzz but not sales
• Needed to maintain viral quality to avoid Lee
  Jeans are Moms Jeans image
• Begin with street posters of villains in 12
  cities - gritty yet hip areas to reach leading
  edge of target style leaders

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The Street Posters
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Buzz Marketing Case

• Cross Campaign Creativity
• Teasers to Build Interest
• Buzz to Persuade without Mass Media
• Advertising to Launch Relationships
• Internet as a Return Destination
• In Store Contact as Ultimate Goal

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The Teaser Spots
In same 12 markets, aired radio ads on weekend
evenings featuring prank calls from villains to
Lee HQ
Curry
Super Greg
Big Roy
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From Buzz to Viral

• Next, opinion leaders asked to chat up
  villains websites for free perks
• Followed by emails to broader group of
  teens/young adults in target market with viral
  video to spread across the country
• Both take local buzz and make it viral

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Villain Home Pages
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The Viral Clips
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Ads to Net

• Once message had gone viral, they launched the TV
  Campaign, nationwide, especially Monday Night
  Football
• Ads direct people to buddylee.com to play online
  games against villains
• High scores posted on list could email scores to
  friends as a challenge

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Television Spots
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The Destination
To get to highest level, needed a secret code
that was only available inside a pair of Lee
Dungarees.   Drives target to retailers for 20.6
sales growth!
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Relevance, Originality, Impact

• 7 Question Strategy Format
• 1. Who are you talking to?
• 2. Whats your point?
• 3. Whats the key word?
• 4. Why should I care?
• 5. Why should I believe you?
• 6 What do you want me to do?
• 7. How should I feel?