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If you Tweet it, they will come… but only if you’re famous?
Recently, Google was able to snag traveling minstrel Conan O’Brien for a ~50 minute exercise in hilarity and self-deprecation (for all parties involved) in the form of an assembly-like Q&A session.
The event was so funny they posted it on YouTube for the world to enjoy (despite legal ambiguities in Conan’s arguably nefarious contract with NBC.) You can watch the entire event here:
Amidst all the fun and games, something interesting jumped out at me. At around the 18 minute mark, Conan begins discussing the genesis of his current tour and the marketing strategy employed to sell tickets. By “Marketing Strategy” I mean he sent out one tweet and the shows (all of them) sold out in hours.
That was it, no budget, no interviews, no ads, nothing. He utilized a simple method of communication that effectively bypassed an entire industry — one that was symbiotic with his career in Television no less. That’s the kind of revolutionary action akin to Radiohead’s famous “pay us what you want here’s the album” business model.
Naturally, this has turned a lot of heads. Conan himself uses it to point out that “…the world has completely changed.” In many ways, he’s right. Social media has lead to an interconnection between fans and purveyors of entertaining content the likes of which has not been seen before. The filters of prior mediums are slowly disintegrating.
I am, however, not altogether convinced that “old” marketing is dead, or even close to dead. Conan’s tweet was successful because it was riding a massive wave of popularity; and though that wave has been carried by the internet, it’s genesis was all too “old media”.
When an independent comic builds a marketing empire on Twitter, or achieves significant cultural recognition via just YouTube (some are getting there), then we can say the world has changed. Until then, Conan is just doing what famous people always do… getting noticed. When Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie go to the supermarket, they get followed by the paparazzi. This does not mean that going to the supermarket is now a viable way to get your picture taken.
Despite my apparent pessimism, it is at least fair to say, that Conan, like Radiohead, has helped get the ball rolling. There hasn’t been a revolution, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t moving in a new direction.
We’re just taking it one step at a time.
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