Harry Epstein’s Hardware is an 81-year-old hardware store on 8th Street in downtown KC. It’s one of those historic, funky, and ancient little places you could easily drive right past if you’re not in the market for an Adjustable Klein Spud Wrench or a nice Friction Thimble Micrometer … and I’m guessing most of us aren’t. They specialize in high-quality specialty tools and hardware for serious tradesmen.
I’m writing this blog not because of their inventory of seemingly endless random and “can you say that again” tools, but for their good use of social media. No they’re not tearing up Facebook with six-figures in followers and they’re not tweeting specials on Carbide Tip Scribers. Rather, as a small company, I feel they have properly integrated YouTube into their brand.
I found just two videos on their (rather crude) site, and in the most basic way, they work. They’re simple, not overly produced, semi-humorous and best of all, they play into their quirky identity and speak to their specialty hardware products.
This is one of the cardinal rules of social media – be authentic and true to your biz and keep in mind it doesn’t have to be overcomplicated.
Vince Offer’s name doesn’t disappoint and neither does his act. Despite what is assuredly a soon to be fleshed out Wikipedia entry that I can only describe as mostly-dubious, he seems blessed with the ability to deliver a truly hypnotizing pitch. Vince Offer first greeted us as “Vince with Shamwow.” A low budget infomercial that’s gained a cult following online:
And the cult is picking up steam. That Shamwow infomercial is well on it’s way to a half-million views and has 2000+ comments. Comments like, “You following me camera guy?” (a quote from the commercial itself) and “Vince rules!” In fact, several lines from the Shamwow pitch are achieving web-meme status. Lines like, “You know the Germans make good stuff.” And, “You know we can’t do this all day.”
Not even to mention what’s sure to be an instant classic, “You’re gonna love my nuts” (don’t worry, he really sells it) from Vince Offer’s next assault on our collective pocket books. The Slap Chop:
Yeah, it’s the same junk Billy Mays has been hawking since ’99 and Ron Popeil since 20 years before that, but it’s never been about the stuff. It’s about the salesman. How can they draw you in? How can they sympathize with your plight? How can they solve it? How can they go the extra mile after that?
Vince plays the game well. All the hallmarks of a classic infomercial formula are here. Fantastically realized demonstrations, trade show booth-side testimonials, freebies and offers that double in the last second- only if you call in the next twenty minutes, naturally. But there’s something about this headset-sporting Velociraptor with spiky hair and a Brooklyn accent that’s mesmerizing in a way the bearded-guy never was…
Watching Vince do his Pitch reminds me of watching Scream. It’s a self-lampoon that brilliantly walks the line between camp and the real thing. He knows we know all the tricks. So he plays them up, winking and laughing at them alongside us while methodically rolling out every single one in the book. I think part of his charm is that all the special-offer, made in European nation x (does it even matter which one?) and this-will-change-your-life statements arrive right on cue. We (along with Vince) can see them coming and when they finally arrive we’re all glad they’re here.
Vince and his backers are onto something. Shamwow (Full Length) was uploaded in June of 2008 and has 350,000+ views as of this writing. Vince with Slapchop (Long Version) was uploaded December 19th, 2008 and already has 190,000+ views as of this writing. The Slapchop pitch is gaining viewers and comments around 500% faster than the first one. Jim Rome just spent 30 minutes talking about Vince on The Jim Rome Show. A three hour syndicated sports radio show with 2.5 million listeners daily.
The SlapChop pitch was even more entertaining than the Shamwow and the set budget has clearly gone up. Why wouldn’t it though? Maybe Vince is pitching the producers for more budget. Love him or hate him, Mr. Offer is gaining momentum.
I cast an unusalluy critical eye on marketing I come across in the wild, and I know for a fact that I can get all manner of chamois and kitchen clutter from my local Target. Even though, I’ll bet I’m not alone reaching for my wallet just because I want to see more of this guy.
Sometime this weekend, Motrin IB reached out to Mommy Bloggers with a snarky video about the dangers of carrying your baby in a sling and the back pain it causes. Enter Motrin stage right… right? Wrong.
Some groups respond well to snark. Hormonal new mothers with postpartum depression and nesting instincts? Not so much. The ad blew up in Motrin’s face almost as fast as it went viral. (Some people are saying it only took 3 hours.) Twitter immediately went into bad PR overdrive, led by JessciaGottlieb (Hint: as of this writing, her twitter bio reads, “Easily outraged, often wrong, seldom apologetic.”)
Two thousand tweets later “motrinmoms” surpassed “SNL” as the number one search term on Twitter since Obama was elected. The overwhelming majority of tweets are talking about they’ll never use Motrin again… Overreaction or not, this is the reality Motrin’s managed to create for itself in a little under 48 hours.
They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity, but the ball is now squarely in Motrin’s court to prove that theory true. So far, all they’ve done is issue an official apology and take the video off their site. Boooooring.
Motrin has managed to actually engage their audience. That’s half of the battle, maybe more, in today’s info-satured marketplace. Will they take this opportunity to reach out to a powerful & vocal group whose feelings they’ve managed to tap into? Will they make good use of their target market’s rapt attention, which they now command? Why not release another ad? Why not turn the snark on themselves with an ad about the social media marketing pain they’re feeling?
Whatever they do, the loudest-first-adopter-mommies are listening, which was the point in the first place. Now Motrin just has to come up with something they want to hear.
