For The Love of God, Don't Go To Walmart!

Have you heard? Three virgins will be sacrificed at a Walmart near you to fulfill some bizarre gang ritual that even a gansta' rap song couldn't envision!

BTW, there's this bridge in Brooklyn I've got for sale...

It's a Hoax, But What a Hoax!

As you've probably heard over the last few days, this urban legend raised its ugly head in Delaware yesterday and -- most likely as a result of all the new coverage -- is now making its way across the country. (My ever diligent local Fox affiliate reporters just make "a few calls" to confirm that it's all a hoax. Don't you feel better?)

Reprehensible. Terrible. Appalling.

But you have to admit that your marketing DNA is being stirred into overdrive at this story and some small part of you is saying, "That is soooooo coool!"

Why I'm Envious

We would die to have this much pass-along value in our campaigns. We would kill to get this kind of press coverage! (Well, maybe not kill. After all, that's kind of the problem with the text message in the first place, but you get my point.) We would pee our pants to have a story this engaging.

Does that make us sick? Probably. But it also highlights something that we say time and time again on this blog and on our marketing podcast, The BeanCast:

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE CONTENT!
I'm certainly not advocating cheap tricks. But tapping into a common fear or desire is an incredibly motivating thing. And we need to stop relegating content that strikes these kinds of chords to a thing called "our viral efforts." Every piece of compelling content needs to be prepared for the possibility of going viral. And we need to always have a strategy for fanning the flames.

What we learned by all this is that people really will pass along a message by every means at their disposal. Our job is just to make it easy for them to do so.

And BTW, much sympathies to the Walmart team and my friends at The Martin Agency. As much as I'm trying to find some learning from all this, it's still a PR nightmare and I wish you all the best.