Live Streaming - When Bad Content Can Also Be King!
Live streaming of a hole being dug in the ground has attracted 3.6 million YouTube views in three days!
At first glance you’d think the crowd behind party game makers ‘Cards against Humanity’ are totally crazy - they're essentially crowd-funding to dig a ‘Holiday Hole’ in celebration of Black Friday.
Questioning the craziness
“But why?” you scream! Those looking for a deeper meaning behind the marketing stunt, or seeking an emotionally charged brand story will be disappointed. Instead, the simply designed website features the live stream and a very blunt FAQ section, stating that there is no purpose to the stunt.
When bad content is king
The marketing stunt works against the norms of conventional marketing. Yes, it follows the mantra of content marketing in that it successfully avoids advertising the brand and product. But It also acts as the arch nemesis to the worldwide content marketing champion – content (I feel like ‘content’ should be held up in bright lights to the sounds of crowd cheering).
On a daily basis we hear “Content is King!” echoed amongst the ranks, and we automatically know this means ‘good’ content is king. But live streaming a hole? Terrible content! It’s on a par with waiting for your toast to pop – although at least there’s an outcome to that, this hole will just stop getting bigger and then be deserted.
So how has Cards against Humanity drummed up such a following?
- Is it because we are subconsciously trained to seek out viral content, to be on trend with the latest cyber phenomenon?
- Is it because we are so unaffected and blasé to the barrage of content online, that anything remotely different to the norm is worth watching?
- Or Is it simply because the brand has such a strong reputation that people will follow regardless?
This isn’t the first stunt by Cards against Humanity and I’m sure it won’t be the last. Just like their card game, they challenge the conventions of what is ‘normal’, which many brands like to think they do but in reality are restrained by red tape and political corporateness.
This company is the Lady Gaga of content, a challenger brand who will move with the times and keep us entertained, hopefully for a lot longer to come.