Rick Warren’s Excellent Viral Marketing Campaign
The guys over at Church Marketing Sucks stirred up quite the discussion this week with a blog post by Michael Buckingham titled An Open Letter To Rick Warren About Spec Work. I will let you read the post and the extensive train of comments…which eventually they shut down because people couldn’t stay civil.
The controversy of the story is based on a contest that Rick Warren has which invites anyone who is interested to enter a contest whereby they submit a cover design for his next book and the winner receives $5000.00. Buckingham’s (and many commentor’s) issue with the contest is that they deem it “spec work”:
“spec requires the designer to invest time and resources with no guarantee of payment.”
I can clearly see both sides of the issue – and it is a heated one – one that has caused a lot of division.
The interesting irony to me in this whole story is that in both Church Marketing Sucks articles and all the comments, no one has focused in on the marketing side of this whole thing. The entire discussion has swirled around design and I see and hear the two sides loud and clear. However, there is a great marketing angle to what Warren has accomplished with this contest.
Look at the buzz that has created – both positive and negative. As of this writing, there are almost 3000 cover design entries. Clearly not all are of the highest quality but that is quite a selection and there is still almost a week left to submit. Marketing is telling your story and Warren’s next book has begun with quite a story – and is building an engaged community.
Rick Warren wanted to give an artist a chance to gain greater profile. They are and they will. Not all controversial publicity is bad. Interestingly the team at Church Marketing Sucks have escalated and contributed to the publicity with Buckingham’s article. This whole saga makes for an interesting case study on buzz marketing. The story has spread like wildfire through the social media networks of Twitter and Facebook. Bloggers are blogging and e-mail is buzzing. The publisher could not ask for more!
The marketing angle here is working – splendidly. Rick Warren’s The Hope You Need is on a lot more people’s radar (for good or bad) because of the viral marketing that is spreading around this contest (and the CMS article). From the publisher’s standpoint…this is pure gold! I know that the CMS guys would say that this “sucks” from the designer’s point of view. They also assume the position that the quality of the cover is going to be sub-par. I for one think the marketing angle is brilliant and noteworthy. And, as for the design…there is easily one gem in there which will grant Warren an excellent book cover and a great story to tell about how it came to be. One happy designer will win the cash and the short-term notoriety…and they will have a great portfolio piece and a great story of their own.
In the end, the “value” for Warren, the publisher, and the book is they get a great cover. They easily get their $5000 worth of design and some great viral marketing to boot. And, as an added bonus with those who are fans and participants in this process, in this world of social media…they have built and engaged a community. Each of the thousands of designers walks away with a story they will tell of their own – how they submitted a design for Rick Warren’s new book – they are telling it now…and they’ll be telling it for weeks to come (win or lose).
All of this adds up the great marketing! So in my view at least, in this situation, church marketing doesn’t suck! Bravo Rick Warren! Oh, and Church Marketing Sucks…I still love what you do!
What’s your take on this? Please share your thoughts on the marketing angle of this story in the comments below!
« Be Helpful | Home | Did You Know? »
Comments
No doubt this gave Warren some publicity, for a book about Hope…or is it a book about getting your hopes up only to be let down later?
I don’t think he did any of this on purpose. I don’t think he expected any fallout. And as I mentioned in a reply on my own blog itt was probably a mistake to single out Rick Warren’s contest. Not just because it wasn’t about it him, but his contest isn’t the norm. Normally we’re talking about a prize that is much less than going right, by a large amount. i.e.. $150 or an attaboy.
If we’re going to market with integrity, we have to consider the people we are involving in our schemes.
And for the record…great design doesn’t come from contests, this sort of thing breeds mediocrity.
Thanks for weighing in Michael. I appreciate your viewpoint and certainly see where the issue becomes contentious. As you say, I don’t think Rick Warren purposefully set out to create so much controversy, but he did set out to motivate a community to participate in the project. It appears his intent was “opportunity” not “exploitation”. And there-in lies the debate.
I love it. What a way to engage the community. Reminds me of some of the habits of the highly successful bloggers out there.
Thanks Jonah. Great marketing today is all about finding ways to engage people in community. Making them feel they can be a part of something special.
Trackbacks
Leave a Comment