A lesson in the power of branding and viral marketing
January 3rd, 2007 by Lani Voivod
No doubt you have heard of the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game. It’s been around since ‘94. The premise is simple: You gather with friends, someone names an actor, and then you try to get to Kevin Bacon in six steps or less by association through other actors via the movies they’ve all been in - in as few steps as possible.
You may not be surprised to hear there are many websites devoted to it - even websites associated with major US educational institutions, like The University of Virginia’s “The Oracle of Bacon at Virginia” site.
However, if you go to the Oracle of Bacon site, you may be surprised that it typically takes fewer than THREE links (2.946, to be exact) to get from any actor in the history of Hollywood to Mr. Bacon.
You may be even more shocked to find out there are more than 1000 actors with a BETTER “Bacon Number” than Mr. Bacon himself.
“What the heck does this have to do with branding and marketing?” you ask?
- There are 1049 actors that are closer to the Center of the Hollywood Universe than Kevin Bacon, yet none of them have had millions of college students, suburbanites, and cinema buffs obsessed with the depth and scope of their acting careers.
- It’s possible that the thing you’ll be known best for will be entirely out of your hands, your fame and fate determined by three college students watching TV who are spontaneously inspired to obsess over you and what you’ve put out to the world…and then invite millions of other accidental evangelists to do the same.
Now, those who have played the Six Degrees game have a mix of amusement and reverence to a guy who they may have otherwise dismissed as “that dude who starred in Footloose.” I, personally, can’t think of even one movie featuring Rod Steiger, yet HE’S listed as the guy with the best Bacon Number (2.678695), and thus as the man who stands at THE center of the Hollywood universe.
So the lesson is as follows:
Sometimes all you have to do is be sure to put yourself out there often and consistently (or, “A-Ha Yourself!” - as we like to say), and the viral marketing pixies will do the rest.
In other words, you don’t have to be the best or most popular, you just have to be the brand or business that comes to mind when other people are yapping about your field or industry.
A very encouraging thought for the start of a new business year.
Want to learn how to maximize your 7 major marketing opportunities so you can get yourself out in front of your target audience often and consistently? Click here and download the FREE 18-page Special Report, How to Make Your Business GO NUTS in 2007!
LACONIA, N.H.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The New Year offers small businesses a chance to refresh their focus, correct past mistakes, and set a bold new course to improve their performance. Two local companies, Acorn Creative of Laconia, NH and Epiphanies, Inc. of Gilford, NH, recently partnered up to help businesses start 2007 on the right track.
