Why JCPenney's 'The Doghouse' Went Viral
Hint: It's Not Because I Got a Press Release for It
Anyone who's ever been in a relationship can relate to these situations, although there surely will be some people (men) left wondering: "But what's so bad about giving a vacuum as an anniversary gift?"
The Doghouse came to me from women friends, it came in a direct message on Twitter and more than one male friend sent it with the note, "I know you'll love this." And that, in a nutshell, is what makes a viral. One friend saying to another: "I know you'll get a kick out of this, relate to this, etc."
Doghouse Rolled
I actually was interested in seeing whose ad it was and what they were selling. That's not something that happens every day. But I certainly never expected JCPenney Jewelry to be the creator -- or to be so hip. Bravo!
I even got "Doghouse Rolled" this morning on Twitter by my pal Albert Maruggi.
Potential problem: The Doghouse, which is how people will look this video up on Google, is already the name of lots of other sites. I betcha at least one is porn.
Note to agencies -- none of the e-mails from friends and acquaintances had the subject line "New viral campaign launches next week."
Related post: Can You Guess Which Pitch is a Real Viral Campaign?
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One of the reasons a video like this goes viral is a simple play on emotion - the internet is full of comedic examples that make us laugh; but the JC Penny video injects the right about of satire to create a winner.
http://admaven.blogspot.com
That stated, I would challenge us all to do the Bob Garfield test on this, and determine if, in the situation that you were an ordinary consumer, would you be willing to sit through the whole thing and in the end, would you get the message. Depending on what it cost to produce, it may be enough, but we should all take a deep breath and realize that the ad model is being rewritten by our economy and measurable results at some point do begin to matter. I just don't know if "great" is the word I would use to describe this, vs. "monotonous."
Jim Sweeney
http://tingfactor.blogspot.com
Steven Stark
www.stevenstark.net
"anyone" includes women, not just men. Your assumptions about what i think are a tad rash. "Stupid" is your word, not mine. Agencies aren't stupid. 99% are simply inexperienced in the use of social media and making lots of mistakes along the way to understanding the power and uses of new media. Hopefully laughing at the Doghouse video relieved some of your tension.
David and James - according to YouTube, as of today, The Doghouse has been downloaded nearly 400,000 times. I doubt all that is echo chamber or Internet marketers passing it on.
I definitely agree that the Doghouse could have been (a lot) shorter, but it's funny enough to get an awful lot of people to the end. Maybe JCP budget cuts didn't allow Sacchi to finish editing.
I'm a shopping snob oto, trust me on that, but recently my friend took me to JC Penney and I was amazed at some of the good stuff they have.
In that regard, Doghouse is just the right way to get to shopping snobs who might not have been the JCP demo before the economy tanked, but who have suddenly changed ranks. There are a few million more of us this week than last, etc. etc.
Google "Doghouse" or "Dog House" and nothing.
What's to stop another company from buying "doghouse" (or "dog house" or "beware of the doghouse") and grab some of those eyes? Other than ethics.
Better for JC Penny to make sure their video/microsite shows up at the top of page 1.
And bravo for such a fun campaign. The video was a little long, but I watched the whole thing, in part because I wanted to know who did it.