No Matter How Nerdy Marketing Gets, It Still Works.

When it comes to technology, much of my generation has grown up with it, accepted it, and loved it. We accept, readily, just about every new gadget and widget someone comes out with. Last night I was with a good friend and he was showing me some of the widgets (more like “junk”) he’d downloaded onto his iPhone and we had to laugh.

I mean, he even had a plugin called “more cowbell” based off the SNL skit with Will Ferrell from a few years back. The iPhone displayed a picture of a cowbell which you pushed on and it would make a tinking sound. If you stopped, you’d get a voice saying, “more cowbell!” Stupid, but I’m sure it’s been downloaded thousands of times. He was even telling me about a light saber widget that allowed you to have a Jedi battle. Wow, we’re more nerdy than I thought!

It’s great that we can always be connected with mobile devices and that someone can develop something that virally gains wide acceptance from the masses, but when is enough enough? I have a friend who even blogged about his dream where Batman was Jedi Knight. Now, when you do that, you know you’re a nerd.

It’s when these type of things take up an exorbitant amount of our time, that we need to say, “stop.” Until then we can encourage people to interact and play with their toys. This is why so much emerging media has great advertising potential. Viral stuff brings people back. How many remember the stupid hamster dance website from the early nineties? It was so dumb! But everyone saw it. Make it memorable, make it stupid and people will come back.

I’m interested to see how digital signage will eventually bring people together with such nerdy devices as the iPhone. Integrating it with crowd games that can all be played via a mobile device is what I’m waiting for. The marketing dollars that could be made in such a venture would be huge. The interactive integration of SMS and digital signage will be gangbusters for advertising. Until then, let’s keep ringing our virtual cowbell.

Tags: Digital Signage, Marketing, SMS Mobile