Marketing Monday: Is ‘Viral’ Really all you Need? (ie. Moon Party Video)
There's a popular video going around the web right now about a girl who fakes getting her first period. Her mom finds out and decides to teach her a lesson by throwing her a Moon Party.
It's pretty freaking hilarious, and has gotten over 17 million views at the time of this post.
Viral is good, right? Well, yes and no. But we'll discuss that in a minute. Before we do, if you haven't yet, enjoy the video.
After you've watched it, scroll down…
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ok. Now let's talk.
I had watched this video and did not notice the company name at the end. Well, I did, but it went right out of my head and didn't mean anything to me. Did you?
I'd just assumed it was an ad for one of the bigger feminine product companies and didn't even make the connection – until my 12 year old daughter was watching it with a friend and laughing.
They walked into my office and I said “Oh the moon party video. That was funny. What company did that video anyway?”
They both shrugged and said “I don't know.”
That's when I realized that i didn't know either. That's not the best marketing. ESPECIALLY since I'm their target market – mom with pre-teen girl.
By the way, so you don't have to rewatch it, the end of the video says “Hello Flo, the gift before the gift”.
No URL, no explanation, no nothing. I don't get it.
What do you think?
- Effective or not?
- If not, what would you do to make this piece more effective?
Talk to me.
By the way, if you're interested in learning more about this company and aren't freaked out by talk of “Lady bits” then check out the scoop on https://helloflo.com – Oh wait. I guess they did get some marketing out of the video after all. 😉
Warmly,
Nicole Dean
PS. Missed previous Marketing posts like this one? Here are a few more.
Kelly McCausey
June 23, 2014 at 3:22 pmLOL! When the girl shrinks away from her mom’s hand at the end – that’s awesome!
Ok, when I watched it it says ‘Visit HelloFlo’ at the end (not ‘Visit HelloFlo.com’) and I think it says a lot about how our media culture has come to expect a website invitation at the end of everything. Anybody who WOULD use a website would probably think to add the dot com – or they’ll just Google it.
Nicole
June 23, 2014 at 3:33 pmI’m just surprised that they invested all that money into a marketing piece with no real call to action.
Where should I go and why? What’s in it for me?
As their ideal client (I’m assuming, since I’m the right demographic and I buy things online nearly every day…) I totally missed it.
Curious to see what others say, too. 🙂
Kelly McCausey
June 23, 2014 at 3:47 pmDoesn’t it seem like ‘the higher the marketing budget – the more aloof the plan’?
I sure don’t get it!
Susan O'Dea
June 23, 2014 at 5:05 pmI thought the video was very clever and very funny. I agree there was no call to action, however after reading your thoughts…they are very sneaky!
The video is funny…but it has also made us talk about it and we want to find out the “who, what and here”!
So now HelloFlo is in our heads and perhaps all the views is due to people watching it twice to see the name at the end again. 🙂
Augustus
June 23, 2014 at 6:27 pmSome years ago, I was a member of a magazine promotion commitee, it’s a new magazine so we had to make the brand go popular, we couldn’t think of a better idea to kick start the whole thing, so another member suggested that we shove our flyers down people’s throat, such that whereever they look, our logo would keep splashing on their face, it was a little bit expensive (creating the logo and printing colorful flyers, and pasting them around) but it was very effective, what we did basically is create the logo and added our websites and contact details, no information about who we are or what we’re offering, it brought in tons of visitors to our website (although the visitors weren’t targeted) we still had a bite of our own.
In essence, it’s actually not about having millions of views, it’s about giving people a reason to type of the name of your company on Google because they want more information.
Thanks for sharing this Nicole.
Shannon
June 23, 2014 at 6:17 pmIt’s so funny.
And because it’s viral it will work just fine. And really this is about brand awareness, not about the actual buy the Hello Flo stuff.
They are laughing all the way to the bank.