Watched my carefully planned viral campaign crash in 90 minutes flat

I spent 6 weeks building a launch strategy for a local bakery in Austin. Had the influencer posts scheduled, the discount codes ready, even a micro-site. On launch day, someone working there posted a blurry phone video of a cat walking on the counter that got 2 million views. Our whole rollout got completely ignored. I realized all that planning was just me guessing what would stick. You ever just watch something you built get buried by accident and have to laugh about it?

3 comments

3 Comments

averywilliams20d ago

You ever feel like you're writing a love letter to the universe and the universe just goes "lol check out this cat video"? I spent three weeks perfecting a hashtag strategy for a friend's online shop once, then a raccoon got into her storeroom and that blurry footage of it trying on a hat got more engagement than anything I ever posted. Made me realize my carefully crafted plan was just a fancy deck of cards waiting for a gust of wind from a stray animal. At least the bakery can meme the moment now, right? Sometimes the best marketing is just admitting you got outsmarted by a furball.

christopher_wells420d ago

Oh man, @averywilliams you just described my entire life in marketing. I once mapped out a whole campaign for a local bookstore down to the hour and then their cat knocked over a shelf of romance novels and the photo of it sitting on top of the pile looking guilty got 20 times the likes of anything I planned. It's like the universe is saying "your spreadsheets are cute and all but check out this chaos." At least you got a good story out of it and the hat thing is pure gold for the bakery's brand. I swear half the time the best content is just admitting you have no control and letting the animals take over.

caleb26220d ago

@christopher_wells4 is right. I been there. Best thing you can do now is pivot fast. Take that cat video and run with it. Put the cat on your micro-site. Make a "chaos special" discount code. The internet loves authenticity over polish every time. Your 6 weeks of planning isn't wasted if you fold the accident into the story. Just gotta accept your audience told you what they want. Good luck.