Great Marketing Ideas

I found this ad on the sidebar at Penny Arcade while I was reading the comic the other day. It struck me as very odd, yet in-line with their personalities.

The guys just released their first feature video game, and were placing ads on their site to promote the game, sounds pretty standard so far. But instead of using something positive, they post the rantings of a barely-literate critic.

Why?

Because this gets people talking. People today don't care about standard advertising, it's too common to care about. But this is not only a little humorous, but completely opposite from the norm. This is the definition of viral marketing, an ad that's real legs are from the secondary market, us. We spread this around, sending it to our friends, blog about it, etc. An excellent example of what this lens is all about.

This topic was recently covered by the guys over at SEO Noobs

"Buzz marketing has become a household term in this day and age. How long has it been since you haven't noticed that eye-catching cause-oriented banner ad in some blog? In fact, Internet marketers have tapped different social networks, depending on their audience demographics to activate buzz marketing. But apart from branding benefits, buzz marketing showers you with SEO advantages as well."

Read full article here.

Ever seen a marketing campaign that made you scratch your head and think, "huh...never would have thought of that"?

I want to find the truly original, the positively creative, the completely bizarre marketing endeavors known to man, and more importantly the ones that work.

Here's what is in it for you. Leave a suggestion in the comments section below (url's are welcome, but html will be stripped to avoid spammers) about a marketing effort that you believe may fit the criteria listed. If your idea has enough legs to be written about (module-worthy), you will receive a free link to your lens/site/blog, a shout out to your Squidoo Profile, and a possible spot on this lensroll if your content is of a marketing nature.

So go ahead and drop an idea and get yourself a chance at some free backlinks.