Looking to Create Some Buzz – Get Inspired by the Top 10 Buzz-building Actors of the Rock and Metal Music Industry History

PG-13 – Parents Strongly Cautioned – Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13 –

Strangely, one of the buzzword of the moment in marketing is the word “buzz”, it seems like every organization wants to create some buzz, but many of these organizations fail to do so when it comes to create what can be considered as “The Buzz”. When it comes to buzz, one interesting inspiration is the music industry. Last week, the German industrial-metal band Rammstein gave an eccentric show in Quebec City using pyrotechnics to accompany – and as part of – their musical performance (for more on this performance, I recommend these three videos: Part I (starting at 1:54), Part II, Part III). However, this story is no exception in the world of music, and especially when it comes to rock and metal music. This is why, in this post, I proposed you a summary of the most prominent Buzz-building actors in the history of Rock and Metal music. This also illustrates how the music industry can be an interesting playground when it comes to generate/test new ideas. So open your eyes and let’s get ready for some in-your-face stories.

1. Alice Cooper – The Father of Theatrical Live Shows

Considered by many experts as one of the father of theatrical live shows, Alice Cooper emerged at the end of the 60’s and had most of his success in the 70’s presenting live shows that features guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, boa constructor and baby doll. However, it is during a show at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival in September 1969 that his reputation developed, when spectators thrown a live chicken on stage and Cooper picked it up and had thrown it out over the crowd expecting the chicken to fly away. Naturally, instead of flying, the chicken plummeted into the first rows occupied by disabled people in wheelchairs, who reportedly proceeded to tear the animal to pieces. On the next day, the incident made the front page of multiple national newspapers which reported “that he had bitten the head off the chicken and drunk its blood on stage”. It was only the beginning of a new era.

Representative video -> School’s Out (See below)


2. Black Sabbath – The First Heavy Metal Band

Formed in 1968 in Birmingham, United Kingdom (UK), by a line-up including vocalist Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath has been named as the “Greatest Metal Band of all time” by MTV. However, along with being extremely heavy for the 60’s, Black Sabbath fame on stage performance came when singer Ozzy Osbourne ate a bat (pigeon) on stage during a concert (See this video for those interested: Ozzy Osbourne eating a bat). The band was also known for its performance on stage, especially the one of vocalist Ozzy Osbourne who was always shaking his head while bent at the post of the microphone; a gesture which influenced a generation of music bands. After Ozzy Osbourne was replaced in 1979, Ronnie James Dio took the stage as vocalist and is often credited as having popularized the famous “devil sign” which is similar to the “sign of the horns” in Mediterranean countries.

Ronnie James Dio doing a devil's sign
Ronnie James Dio doing a devil's sign

Representative video -> Iron Man (See below)

3. Kiss – Putting the “Brand” in the “Band”

Well-known as a rock’n’roll band, it is more as a rock’n’roll “brand” that Kiss have made its name. Formed in 1973 in New York City by a line-up including guitarist/singer Paul Stanley and bassist Gene Simmons, Kiss made itself a name using specific makeup design, and presenting live shows which featured fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, and pyrotechnics. The band is also known for having licensed its name to more than 2,000 product categories. As a lucky one, I had the opportunity to attend one of their concerts last year in Quebec City last summer. Even at 60 years old, they were still entertaining.

Representative video -> Detroit Rock City (See below)


4. Guns N’ Roses – Sexy Hair, Sexy Girls and Unsexy Incidents

Led by eccentric and undisciplined vocalist Axl Rose, as well as guitarist Slash, Guns N’ Rose (GNR) was considered as an icon band of the Glam/Hair Metal movement in the 80’s. Their looks and attitude included debauched lifestyles of late-night parties (widely covered in the tabloid press), very long backcombed hair, use of make-up, gaudy clothing and accessories (chiefly consisting of tight denim or leather jeans, spandex, and headbands). GNR’s vocalist Axl Rose is also famous for tackling a fan who was illegally filming the show with a camera. After being pulled out of the crowd by members of the band, Rose said: “Well, thanks to the lame-ass security, I’m going home!”, slammed his microphone on the ground and stormed off stage. Furthermore, in 1992, at Montreal Olympic Stadium, as GNR were performing the second part after Metallica’s vocalist James Hedfield was injured on stage after stepping too close to a pyrotechnics blast, GNR were therefore forced to go on stage earlier. The sound wasn’t really good, and after some songs, Axl Rose decided to end the show, claiming that his throat was hurting. This behaviour later led to an infamous riot around Olympic Stadium.

Representative video -> Welcome to the Jungle (See below)


5. Metallica – Attitude and Talent

Formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California and known as the premier band when it comes to trash metal and modern metal music, Metallica brought a lot of attitude and a more manly approach to metal music. The band also brought extremely raw performances which notably include Kirk Hammett solos on guitar and Lars Ulrich now famous fast drumming technique. Furthermore, there was a time where the band was nicknamed by some metal specialists as Alcoholica due to abuse of alcohol. The story behind the band is exposed in the 2004 documentary entitled “Some Kind of Monster”.

Representative video -> Enter Sandman (See below)


6. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Never too Hot

Formed in 1983 in Los Angeles, California by members including vocalist Anthony Kiedis and bassist Flea, the band soon made their reputation of special live performances and California style wearing. The band has made its reputation out of eccentricity with the infamous “sox on cox” outfit where each of the members where playing live on stage naked with only a long sock to cover their genitals (See in this video: Sox on cox). However, after some years in the dark, the band finally earned success after recording the cult album “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” in 1991.

Representative video -> Give it Away (See below)



Parody of the video by Weird Al Yankovic -> Bedrock Anthem

7. Nirvana – The Anti-Marketing Attitude

Emerging as the most popular band of the Seattle grunge scene (Alice in Chains, Mudhoney, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) with their second album entitled “Nevermind” in 1991, Nirvana was considered by many experts as the most influential “band” of the early “90’s”. The band adopted an “anti-marketing” attitude and casual wearing such as the infamous grunge shirt. It was a time in the 90’s where it was common to cross on the street a group of teenagers all wearing a Nirvana t-shirt. Unfortunately, the activities of the band suddenly ended, when vocalist Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994.

Representative video -> Smells Like Teen Spirit (See below)


8. Marilyn Manson – Whatever it Looks Like, As Long as Its Ugly

Professional provoker Marilyn Manson alias Brian Hugh Warner, started to terrify parents of teenagers in the early 90’s. Everything he made since then is perfectly described in the sentence: “talk to me in good, talk to me in bad, as long as you talk about me”. Furthermore, in the case of Marilyn Manson there had always been a duality between the beauty and the beast as the Marilyn Manson name comes from the contraction of the busty “Marilyn Monroe” and the infamous murderer “Charles Manson”.

Representative video -> Sweet Dreams (cover of Eurythmics; See below)


9. Rammstein – Sometimes Its Better Not to Understand German

Formed in 1994 in Berlin, Germany by members including one-time junior olympic swimmer Till Lindemann as vocalist. The band is well-known for their strange and provocative videos, unique music style that blends metal and industrial music, and provocative performance on stage. For instance, vocalist Till Lindeman is well-known for lighting himself on stage with fire (See video: Till Lindeman lights himself on stage) and masochist behaviors such as slapping himself. Other behaviors include when keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz surfs over the crowd using an inflatable boat (See video: Christian “Flake” Lorenz surfs over the crowd using an inflatable boat).

Representative video -> Feuer Frei (See below)


10. Slipknot – Bad Clowns and Heavy Music

Emerging from Des Moines, Iowa with their first album simply entitled “Slipknot” in 1999, and with a first video clip entitled “Wait and Bleed” and banned on MTV, the 8-member band was once considered as the heaviest band on earth. The band originally includes all members dressed with nasty clown masks that covers their actual identity and costumes that seem to be directly borrowed from a horror movie. The band is also characterized with extreme live performances which has culminates with the “Jump the f*** up” gesture. (See video: “Jump the f*** up” gesture)

Representative video -> Left Behind (See below)


Conclusion

In conclusion, are you inspired or are you simply disgusted by the description of these moments of buzz-building in the music industry? Did you understand the recipe: (1) a minimum of talent as a necessary condition, (2) a unique style, (3) cool wearing, (4) special live shows and (5) attitude!!! Any other popular bands that could/should have been considered as a major buzz-building actor in the rock and metal music industry without copying too much the style of these already described bands?

Rock on!

Jean-Francois

Enter your email address below to subscribe to this blog

Delivered by FeedBurner

Share

Capitalizing on Previously Created Buzz: The “Old Spice Man” Strikes Back

In the last few days, the Old Spice man struck back. But who is the “Old Spice man”? The “Old Spice man” was an integrative part of what could/should be considered as one of the best ad of the 2010 year (see below), logging more than 13 million views on YouTube.


The “New” Concept

The concept following-up the February 2010 Old Spice ad includes more than a single ad as it consists of a single ad similar to to the original one (see Should your man smell like an Old Spice man?) and multiple YouTube videos answering back comments related to the February 2010 ad posted on social media platforms by either well-known personalities (e.g Alyssa Milano (see below), Ashton Kutcher) or users with a large and influential network. Was the strategy new? Not really! Answering back comments from individuals considered as “important” is an old and primitive strategy. Was the tactic used new? Yes it was! Using YouTube to answer back these comments can be considered as new, at least in North America.


Capitalizing on Previously Created Buzz

As previously stated in my post entitled Demystifying Viral Marketing – 7 Myths of Viral Marketing: “viral marketing campaigns should be considered as long-term strategies that should be used to attract new users and propagate awareness”. In this way, the February 2010 ad created buzz, and capitalizing on this previously created buzz was brightly executed using a new tactic.

The Next Step

Once again, as stated in my post entitled Demystifying Viral Marketing – 7 Myths of Viral Marketing: “one of the fundamental objectives of viral marketing campaigns is to gain a larger database [and to] turn [users] into loyal users (consumers)”. Thus, the next step for Old Spice would be for sure to turn this “buzz” into customer loyalty.

The Old Spice man in the February 2010 ad
The Old Spice man in the February 2010 ad

Conclusion

Bringing back the “Old Spice man” using a new tactic was certainly a bright idea for the Old Spice brand! However, once users know about the tactic used, would it be a bright idea for another company to use the same tactic? Absolutely not! The buzz was there for mainly two reasons: (1) because consumers perceived the tactic used was new, and (2) Old Spice capitalized on previously created buzz. Thus, using the same tactic would be redundant. So what do you think of this Old Spice tactic?

Jean-Francois

Enter your email address below to subscribe to this blog

Delivered by FeedBurner

Share

Launching a Successful Online Marketing Campaign for Buzzing the Buzz Using the Buzz/Viral/Buzz Sequence

Mentioning the need to build a successful online marketing campaign is easy to say but way harder to detail. What can be considered as a successful campaign? The answer is straightforward; a campaign that reaches the fixed objectives whilst minimizing the costs and maximizing gains. In other words, we can define a successful campaign as one that generates a positive long-term return on investment (ROI). To the minimum, if your objective is to gain subscribers to your newsletter, all you need to implement in relation to your online strategies is one designed ad and a single video that redirect viewers to a subscription form thereafter. I personally think that the simpler is the better, and that the buzz/viral/buzz sequence is a good recipe to success. So what is the buzz/viral/buzz sequence?

The buzz/viral/buzz sequence is a 3-step hierarchical procedure which includes:

1. Buzz in the creation process;
2. Viral to propagate in the targeted population;
3. Buzz in the targeted population.

Each of these steps is described with more depth in the following paragraphs.

1. Buzz in the creation process

If there is no buzz around the video in the creation process, the probability that there will be a buzz once launched to the targeted population is minimal. Why would I share a video is the question to ask to any member of the marketing team before the campaign is launched. Great campaigns often come with innovative and simple ideas. You are much better off dumping a bad video than showing the whole world how much the video sucks!

2. Viral to propagate in the targeted population

Viral marketing is about the techniques employed to propagate a message/video in the online environment. If the message/video sucks, you will spend plenty of time trying to spread rotten material. For a more detailed view of viral marketing myths, feel free to read my post entitled “Demystifying Viral Marketing – 7 Myths of Viral Marketing Campaigns”.

3. Buzz to the targeted population

If there is a buzz in the creation process, then chances that viral techniques worked are multiplied and chances that a buzz occurred in the targeted population are exponential. In other words, buzz in the targeted population is a function of the two previous elements of the sequence. A well-executed example of these three steps is the successful online campaign featuring the Bee Boys Dance Crew for Häagen-Dazs video (see picture below) launched a year and a half ago.

The Bee Boys Dance Crew for Häagen-Dazs - A Successful Online Marketing Campaign
The Bee Boys Dance Crew for Häagen-Dazs - A Successful Online Marketing Campaign

Conclusion

What do you think of the proposed sequence? Do you have any example of organizations skipping the first part of the sequence and then whining about the fact that users didn’t buzz on their campaigns? Users are not dumb, so proponents of the online marketing intelligentsia, please stand up!

Jean-Francois Belisle

Enter your email address below to subscribe to this blog

Delivered by FeedBurner

Share