john st. unignorable - Blog the book of john

Almost 1.5 million people have viewed our Catvertising video on YouTube in the last two months, and it's gotten almost as much press as Charlie Sheen's meltdown last Fall.

Surely, there must be some lessons that we can take from this and apply to our other work. And here they are:

1. Roll the dice.

Whatever you do, do something. Experiment. Try things. As long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg, put an idea out there and see what happens. (Catvertising cost about $10,000. Or about half the cost of a few focus groups in Toronto). If an idea works, wonderful. If it doesn't, try to figure out why. The point is to try things because in the digital world…

2. No one really knows what will work.

The digital space is continually evolving (remember when Foursquare was the next big thing?). But what no one will admit to (not your agency, PR partner, or heaven forbid, your research company) is that no one really knows what will work in the new world because the game keeps changing so fast.

We thought Catvertising would work but did we know? Absolutely not. But we thought it might. Which leads me to my next point…

3. Trust your gut.

And trust your agency's gut. Do you like it?  Does your agency? If your agency believes in an idea, there is very very often something there. Because good advertising people have a finely tuned radar for what people will like and will remember. It is after all, their job. And there was something about Catvertising as an idea that made it shine brighter than some of the others we considered. We think that thing was…

4. Smart/funny.

Smart/funny is a lethal combination in the online world, because it allows you to make a serious point in an entertaining, shareable way. Tina Fey annihilated Sarah Palin's political aspirations on SNL a few years back with her hilarious impersonation that basically said: do you really want someone this unprepared a bullet away from running the most powerful country in the world?

Angus Tucker