ice bucket challenge _ michael d russo

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1 | I c e B u c k e t C h a l l e n g e – M i c h a e l D R u s s o © 2 0 1 4

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Marketing Strategies to Live By!

By Michael D. Russo

A Viral Campaign That Worked!

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last 30 days or so the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has gone

viral. What is it you ask? ALS is a charity that does research for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Disease.

ALS is a motor neuron disease and affects the use of muscles in the body, causing them to degenerate

over time.

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge was their latest initiative to raise money for their cause and it has to be

said it was a huge hit!

What Was The Effect?

The campaign was actually quite simple. Pour ice water over your head on camera, donate $10 to the

cause and then challenge a friend to do the same thing. Very simple idea but one that has caught on

where many other viral marketing campaigns have failed and brought huge success for the

organisation.

In about 30 days ALS has recorded more than $40 million dollars in donations, more than double the

amount they raised in the whole of the last financial year! Not to mention the millions of dollars of

free publicity they have received and the level of public awareness about the disease that has now

been achieved as well.

Their challenge has been taken up by celebrities, politicians, movie stars, professional athletes,

television hosts, even getting Bill Gates and Kermit The Frog involved.

My favourite would have to be Patrick Stewart (Start Trek,

X-Men) who, in true Patrick Stewart style, did his own version of

the challenge. In his video you see him with his cheque book

writing out a check, then placing it to the side and from off

camera pulling a big ice bucket full of ice on screen along with a

glass. He then proceeds drop a couple of cubs of ice into the




glass, pull a bottle of spirits from under the table and pour it into the glass, he then takes a drink and

raises one eye brow to the camera and smiles. Classic!

When I did research on the campaign I found just as much negative publicity on the organisation, the

challenge and the type of charity the funding was supporting - as I did good publicity! In other words,

good, bad or otherwise – people are talking about it – which is the point of a good marketing campaign

in the first place!

Why Did It Work?

I actually heard about the campaign from my daughter, Taylor, 15 years old - lives on social media -

and of course the campaign hit her target demographic before it did mine!

What I was interested in was why it was so successful!

Now let’s be clear here, creating a hit viral marketing campaign of the kind ALS has achieved is not

science, in fact it’s a bit of a stab in the dark really – it’s so hard to predict what will work and what

won’t in today’s social media space. However, as always there are some things you get do to put the

odds in your favour so let’s look at what ALS did to have lady luck smile on them this time!

1) The challenge was very simple. Simply pour ice on your head and film it. Then donate $10.

2) Challenge a friend. This viral campaign worked because the challenge was every easily

sharable, did not require any complicated equipment and allowed people to put their own

spin on the challenge.

3) It’s the sort of thing social media loves, watch your friends or movie, sports or singing stars

doing something stupid! In fact this type of social media angle works better than something

that pulls at the heart strings.

4) They got the big boys involved very early on. One of the main reasons for its success was they

succeeded in getting on television at right out of the gates having their challenge performed

by someone people already recognised. Once the challenge was complete and the next

challenge issued – it was a short trip before every second home viewer wanted to do the same

thing!

So before you go off setting up your next marketing campaign take a closer look at ALS’s Ice Bucket

Challenge and then do what all good marketers do – copy and paste!




Michael D. Russo built his fist multi-million dollar enterprise in his mid 20’s. He is a

Marketing Strategist and four-time Author including “Why Bankruptcy Rocks and

Success is Over-Rated!” A contributing host on Experience Pros Radio Show with a

weekly segment on marketing called, ‘Your Unfair Marketing Advantage’. He created

the ‘Oprah in Oz National Welcome Campaign’ for Oprah Winfrey’s visit to Australia

in 2010. Email him at [email protected].

Hosts Eric Reamer and Angel Tuccy can be heard every weekday morning from

10am MST airing from Denver, Colorado on the Experience Pros Radio Show. With a

mission to help business owners be the best they can be the show is, ‘The Most

Positive Business Talk Radio Show in America’! Listen in now by visiting

www.ExperiencePros.com or visit www.560TheSource.com. Call in and chat on (720)

344 2446.

http://www.experiencepros.com/

http://www.560thesource.com/

ice bucket challenge _ michael d russo

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