There's a lesson in every campaign for every business owner. We just have to find it. And so as we prepare for countless little brats to demand candy in exchange for not covering our house in toilet paper, let's look back on the case study of a zombie event I ran last year when I was working with a Manchester car dealership.
Buckle up. First - the back story.
Two years, the Christmas tree that's lit at a big annual holiday event in on Main Street in Manchester, CT was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy - the top half was blown off. There was no money to replace it and the committee was going to cancel the huge event. I proposed that instead we light it...calling Sandy the Grinch that tried to steal Christmas...leaving us with a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree.
The local media went NUTS. The story was on all of the local tv stations and newspapers...and we had 40 individuals and companies volunteer to donate their tree to replace it.
Great stuff. BUT it was still going to cost $5,000 to uproot both trees and move it. Again...no money.
I told them I'd come up with the money. And that's where the zombies come in.
While my stated goal was to raise the $5,000 - my bigger goal was to drive a boatload of exposure to Main Street - starting with Carter Chevrolet at one end...and running through all of the businesses down the mile or so stretch of Main Street.
The idea was to host an Epic Zombie Block Party on Thursday, October 24 from 5pm-8pm. Everyone thought I was nuts. I got Carter Chevrolet to sponsor the event by covering all of the printing costs. Then I asked businesses to take part by giving some kind of discount or having entertainment at their business the night of the event. I had a handful of businesses pledge their support...but most were "ehhh" on it. I knew the potential was there. People LOVE zombies ...and The Walking Dead just set a record with viewership, beating out Sunday Night Football.
I pushed forward...filming the story of the "outbreak" spreading throughout Manchester. Here's the last in the series of videos.
The "virus" began to take hold...and more and more businesses started jumping on board. In less than a week, we cleared 30,000 combined hits on the videos. I put together press kits that looked like a crazy person sent them. Included was a public service advisory, a press release, a picture of their lead anchor, DJ or reporter turned into a zombie, and the "surveillance video" of the zombie outbreak.
I then started dropping mysterious "public service advisories" throughout town - park benches, bus stops, businesses.
The media went wild. It was in all of the local papers and tv stations, and I did a live interview of more than five minutes long on Fox CT.
But that week...tragedy struck. Great Harvest Bread - featured in our first video - burned to the ground along with another business and a handful of apartments - right on Main Street.
Here's where it gets cool. After seeing the media exposure, two organizations stepped forward and covered the entire cost of replacing the tree....freeing up our event to now donate ALL of the money we raise to the victims of the fire.
Go big or go home, right? I took our "zombie response vehicle"...the new 2014 Chevy Silverado...and in the middle of the night, shrink-wrapped a handful of highly visual businesses on Main Street, covering them with Caution: Zombie Outbreak tape...and "leaking" to the news about how there was a crew sealing off buildings on Main Street.
The media again went wild. The story advanced...this time talking about how Carter Chevrolet was reaffirming the spirit of a community coming together in tragedy. Boom.
NOW the dealership was getting excited. I got the approval to do a series of radio promos, newspaper ads and a direct mailer turning it into a Zombie Survival Sales Event.
More and more businesses started jumping on board, offering discounts, promos and entertainment. A Zombie Dance Party. A Zombie Photo Booth. Roaming packs of Zombie Musicians. And soooo much more. The buzz was incredible.
I started getting calls from businesses OUTSIDE OF THE STATE who want to sponsor it. Every business on Main Street has "zombies welcome here" signs in the windows (the landing page has since been removed, otherwise I’d share it with you).
So of COURSE I had to build on this buzz...and utilize social media to really get people talking (and get them even more excited to come down).
That Monday, Facebook suffered all sorts of technical glitches. OPPORTUNITY. I put out a press release and a blog about how we crashed Facebook. Then I started tweeting about it - not just to local media outlets, but to CNN, Washington Post, etc. Patch was COMPLETELY INUNDATED WITH TRAFFIC. Click here for that piece.
Tuesday...same thing - this time, blaming the government shutdown on zombies: Click to read.
Next, Kim Kardashian and Miley Cyrus. Click to read.
It was a great case study in how a company can use trending terms and hashtags to drive their own exposure.
At the event itself, we a big local radio station broadcasting live. 100% of the money raised went to the victims. We solicited local schools and groups to help collect canned goods and donations on premise.
Some would argue that that for that sponsoring dealership, they’d better have sold a TON of cars as a result. I'd argue otherwise. I hope other businesses look at how massive this event blew up...and understand the power of utilizing grassroots and guerrilla marketing combined with an effective social media and public relations campaign.
Want to learn more about the power of Outrageous Marketing? Joe Petrowsky and I can't wait to tell you all about it. We hope to see you next week. All of the cool kids are doing it. And the zombies.
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