Need viral marketing? Throw away money
Tung Desem Waringin gets a lot of coverage by showering 100 million Rupiah from an airplane in Indonesia outside Jakarta in order to sell his book and to promote himself.
100million Rupiah sounds a lot but it is only US$10,600 or EUR 6,700 or 5,429 pounds.
Many VC funded start-ups could spend this amount too, on something similar.
Results:
- Printed press coverage in many countries – even in respected newspapers
- Electronic news coverage and blogs
- A one minute video clip on television news worldwide.
- On Youtube
It sure gets the attention on both his book and the poor people in Indonesia grabbing the money.
So there is even a good cause included (Philanthropy). Although some serious fighting for a fistful of Rupiah has taken place (referring to the movie of Sergio Leone).
Books selling, is selling to consumers and this Tung Desem Waringin achieves by reaching out to consumers through all the press coverage.
Although the event has worldwide coverage, it is a one time happening with no long lasting effect.
This reminds us of the GoldenPalace.com (online casino) buying the previously owned 1999 Volkswagen Golf of Pope Benedict XVI’s for Euro 188,939 (approx. US$244,590) in 2005. This stunt was much more expensive.
In 2007 the casino tried to sell the car again on eBay with biddings up to US$ 136,500 with a $204,000 reserve price, but never managed to reach the reserve price.
In order to get more coverage the casino promised to offer 40 percent of the proceeds of the sale to be donated to Habitat for Humanity Great Britain.
The reason they use Great Brittan, is because this is their market, although the company is from Texas.
These viral effects are temporary, but that is perhaps one of the characteristics of all viral marketing.
A longer lasting marketing effect would be better, but that will cost more than the US$10,000 for the book. Moreover the running costs of a long lasting viral marketing campaign would be significative.
Any good ideas for viral marketing on a budget?
If you happen to know one – suited to the B2B market, please let us know, we will consider it.
