Personal, social, concrete: 3 marketing lessons from the #icebucketchallenge

If you haven't heard of the ice bucket challenge, you probably haven't been on the Internet for the past week. The activity, branded #icebucketchallenge on Twitter, is a fundraising campaign by the ALS Association, where a participant is challenged to either dump a bucket of ice water over his or her head or donate $100 dollars to the ALS Association (another variant involves a $10 dollar donation with the ice bath).

Thought the challenge was gaining popularity slowly but surely, its viral lift started with on man: Pete Frates, the 29-year old former captain of the Boston College baseball team. Mr. Frates, recently diagnosed with ALS, helped to tie the ice bath to the disease in a memorable way; the campaign went completely viral when his family and community filmed themselves completing the challenge, then posted videos of their ice baths to social media sites.

Now, it's hard to log on to Twitter or Facebook without seeing a video of someone in your social network doing the same. In just a few weeks the ALS Association has raised more than $33 million dollars to fight the disease and support ALS sufferers and their families. But what principles made the challenge so effective? New York Magazine has a few ideas on the principles behind #icebucketchallenge's popularity:

1. It's personal. People respond more positively to messages with a personal component, whether it puts a face to the ask or whether it resonates with them in their own lives. The point is that the target of the message feels like it is well-tailored enough to be relevant — and relevant enough to take action.

2. It's social. A large component of #icebucketchallenge's success has to do with other people seeing it in action. Having friends and community members challenge an individual is more effective than keeping the challenge impersonal, and peer pressure can play a very important role in action (or lack thereof).

3. It makes a concrete ask. It doesn't ask for a donation, it asks for a dollar amount. There are also two clearly defined alternatives — $100 or $10 and an ice bath. The concrete ask is more likely to get traction with an audience because it removes the paradox of choice from the equation.

More articles on turnarounds:
5 ways to spot a good business opportunity
Senator Rand Paul on medical mission in Guatemala
Is my team engaged? 10 steps to earning employee engagement

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Webinars

Featured Whitepapers

Featured Podcast