When Small Business Buzz Marketing Goes Too Far – Using Hitler and Cocaine to Sell Products, Part I

With viral and off-beat marketing all the rage, more and more entrepreneurs are trying to harness the power of these cost effective strategies. The problem is, many of them simply go too far. Without a team of professional marketers and attorneys to reel them back in with market research, historical advertising data and legal review, these entrepreneurs can easily develop and implement campaigns that are downright offensive.

When a Fortune 1000 company develops advertising and marketing campaigns, there is a process that couples creative with review. Consider Apple’s “Think Different” campaign or Vonage’s “YouTube”-type video campaign. These are viral, edgy, pop culture campaigns that tickle the funny bone, are designed to resonate with the Gen X/Y markets and will likely not offend anyone. Now consider PETA’s naked advertising campaigns. Those would be considered controversial campaigns which can be offensive to some. As controversial as the human body can be, there is a decades old debate on the subjectivity of art and pornography, so PETA expected that the debate would cause buzz for their brand.

So, what is too far? Consider campaigns that use the terms “Nazi” or “Cocaine.” These campaigns are designed to offend and garner some cheap buzz but will likely alienate the main stream consumer and media. This type of marketing is more often than not perpetrated by small business owners on a shoestring budget that confuse offensive marketing for controversial marketing. Without the proper stop gaps like a Creative Review a Legal Evaluation, these entrepreneurs implement the concept without considering the consequences to their brand, personal reputation and/or product.

Examples of Offensive Marketing in Small Business:

www.pixelnazi.com This site redirects to a real estate blog called the Real Estate Tomato which seems to have nothing to do with 1940s Germany or Hitler. However, it is concerning that this business would use a domain with that type of connotation. This is a perfect example of a small business owner with little to no marketing expertise devaluing their own brand through offensive marketing.

www.drinkcocaine.com This site is using cocaine to market the young adult demographic on an energy drink. The drink even comes in a white powdered form. This is not only an example of offensive marketing, but also of an offensive product. It is clear that these are “shock-jock marketers” that thought that generating hype and controversy around their brand through national news media coverage would grow their brand. And while it may have garnered them some PR, their marketing strategy actually hinders their distribution. Conversely, look at www.bawls.com, a similar energy drink that went down a controversial marketing path, yet still managed to connect with its market without alienating or offending the main stream market.

Stay Tuned for the second part in this series where I will discuss how to properly implement controversial marketing in small businesses.