One of the best things so far about not working in an ad agency full time is that I no longer feel the need to give a reasoned, depthy analysis every time someone asks me about a breaking campaign. I don’t even have to be passionate – for all the hype on the Cadbury’s Gorilla, I can just stay put at “quite good, nicely executed”.
So it’s rare that I get really really excited about a bit of marketing, but I can honestly say this is the most interesting thing I’ve seen for a while. Forget RadioHead (who let you download their whole album for any price you choose), Soulja Boy is where it’s at.
Link to the YouTube video here
The product, the person and marketing are so intertwined that you feel like think the whole thing is campaign for something else completely.
Every single trick that you’ve ever heard in a marketing brainstorm, he’s done.
His album is titled as a URL – souljaboytellem.com .
His URL is an entire social networking site.
He leaves nothing to chance with what he wants people to do – his music video shows teens watching his music video on their mobile phones, and then imitating the dance.
On his YouTube channel – (which has over 100 videos of various content, all with 5, 6, and 7 figure view counts) – he highlights related content on YouTube, like the Barney Remix, or a comedian spoofing his lyrics.
There are more imitations and remixes of anything I’ve ever seen including Lion King, Sponge Bob, and loads of earnest dance videos. Lots of these remixes have millions of views. I kind of wish Asi would pull some YouTube stats on this guy, as I am pretty sure Soulja Boy now rules YouTube.
I watched one of his interviews – before he was signed, he would upload his demo tracks to file sharing networks, and misleadingly title them as the newest 50 Cent track he knew everyone would be looking for. Evil genius.
He’s also got shedloads of merchandise – the music videos all feature distinctive branded gear that you buy from the website, and he has any number of bits of mobile content you can buy.
As you’d expect, he’s on every social network, with shedloads of authentic content on each one, and he even has all gear, and the dance, at Meez (avatar site for teens). Here’s me doing the dance.
Plus, the greatest meme of all – he writes his name on the outside of his shades, using Tipp-Ex.
