I just had a thought about a previous post wherein I said that companies are excited about viral marketing so they hope that someone will "pass a cartoon around". Then I noted that the real key to open-source marketing was to get customers involved in marketing and product development.
So, this reminded me of the New Yorker's great idea to hold weekly "caption contests" where their customers get to write captions for their cartoons. The New Yorker is getting free content development, and tons of regular website visitors (did I win?). They're also getting new readers, and I bet folks are virally spreading the meme to their friends since they can only submit one caption (Dad, will you submit this caption for me?).
Open-source content makes for great Word of Mouth marketing. Now, I'm defining open source here as a process in which everyone can see the inner workings of the creation process. That doesn't mean there's not somebody in control (judges, for example, who choose the winning caption). I'm not talking about a free-for-all, or even "democracy". Just an open, participatory process that allows non-employees to have some great ideas that see the light of day.
Disclosure: Edelman does PR for the Cartoon Bank, but I'm not involved with that at all and that's not why I'm writing about this.
Recent Comments