Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Jeff's Unfortunate Brush With Sanjaya Fever - Part II
Yesterday, I revealed the marketing lesson that American Idol contestant Sanjaya was unknowingly teaching.

What is that lesson? He chose to stand out from other contestants instead of blending in. The results have been dramatic with him developing a loyal fan base that keeps him on the show while more talented singers are voted off.

But I told you that that's not the only marketing lesson his presence provides. There's an equally valuable lesson you can learn from the way the American Idol producers exploit his dare-to-be-different persona.

The producers recognize that great marketing truth that controversy can sell, too.

From what I've read (which is really all I care to know about American Idol), Sanjaya is a mediocre singer who has managed to keep in the running because of the unconventional persona he displays.

AI purists decry his continued presence . But a solid block of preteen girls who see him as the ultimate heartthrob manage to give him enough votes to keep him alive week after week.

So what do the producers do? A week ago, they focused for an inordinate amount of time on an 11-year-old audience member as she cried her way through watching Sanjaya sing.

Word has it that the girl in question cried through just about every song that night. She simply was happy to be there and had her waterworks in overdrive the entire night.

But when did the producers focus the camera on her? That's right. Only when Sanjaya sang.

But the results were predictable.

The next day, AI purists were outraged. They accused the producers of stacking the results. They used it as proof that preteen girls were turning the show into a contest to pick the next hot poster boy for lovesick preteenies. They blamed Sanjaya for global warming. Well, they didn't go quite that far.

But their outrage generated a lot of press. Enough press that even a couldn't-care-less-about-AI curmudgeon like me ended up reading about it. My curiosity eventually got the best of me because I ran into the controversy everywhere I looked.

No, they didn't pique my interest in it enough to get me to watch. But I'm sure this pseudo-controversy will add lots of curious non-AI watchers to the next shows to see what everybody's talking about.

What interests me, though, is the excellent example this represents of how controversy can generate attention for your business.

I don't know if AI producers plotted this controversy from the start and I don't care. But once it started, they have nurtured it carefully to keep it growing. And they have reaped massive benefits from it in the form of free publicity.

You don't always want to steer clear of controversy in your business. A carefully managed controversy can bring you plenty of free—and valuable—attention.
Jeff


P.S. I hope to make this my last blog on either American Idol or Sanjaya. But I'm not promising anything. If they do something marketers can learn from, I'll let you know.

But make sure you keep checking back for marketing lessons that come from all sorts of odd angles you never hear anywhere else.

And if you haven't already done so, check out my newsletter on marketing tips and tools. I'll give you $250 worth of bonuses for signing up for my free newsletter.

Why so much? There's a marketing lesson in why I do that, too. Check the newsletter signup page to find out what that lesson is.

Labels: American Idol, online business, promote business, Sanjaya