Rhett & Link: The Business of Viral

You may not recognize their names, but chances are good that you’ve seen them in action.

It might have been in one of their original music videos, such as “The ShamWow Song.” Perhaps it was in their Alka-Seltzer Great American Road Trip series. Chances are good that it was in the infamous Red House Furniture Store spot – one of many ads they’ve produced as part of their “I Love Local Commercials” campaign.

There are 243 videos in all, which have been viewed nearly 50 million times on YouTube since 2006.

Without question, the comedy duo of Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal have mastered the art and the science of viral video.

Hailing from a small town in North Carolina, these engineering majors might seem unlikely candidates to be among the leading innovators legitimizing a new type of broadcasting online. Yet these savvy YouTube celebrities have found a way to monetize their passion for inventive musical comedy by bridging the gap between advertising and entertainment.

While social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter are widely recognized as integral components to a successful Web marketing campaign, video content remains a gray area for many businesses. However, Rhett & Link’s reputation for creating highly popular content has brought household names – including Alka-Seltzer, Baby Ruth, Starburst, Hummer, Cadillac and McDonald’s and Coca-Cola – to their doorstep seeking custom videos and series.

Rhett & Link have invested little in their business endeavor beyond their own creativity,
but their ability to wield the true currency of Internet marketing – a dedicated following of more than 355,000 subscribers – have made the pair pioneers of branded entertainment online.

Fame Foundry’s Jordan Drake recently sat down with Rhett & Link to discover how they have harnessed the power of viral video to advance not only their own personal brand but also the brands of their sponsors as well.

[powerpress]

More from Fame Foundry

The Fame Foundry Podcast and the Fame Foundry Daily Tips for Business Growth are available now on iTunes.

Subscribe Now

Changing Marketing's Old Guard

Before becoming an agent for Fame Foundry, I invested more than 20 years working for several advertising agencies. I learned, peddled and practiced everything from marketing plans to package design. Like most career admen, I know all about media buying, creative briefs, radio and TV production, graphic design and creative writing. But there's at least one thing I've learned that makes me significantly different from marketing's old guard; I've learned to accept the fact that the Web has replaced all other forms of media.

Even now, marketing firms and advertisers alike seem comfortable with the status quo. This is fine as long as their customers continue to make buying decisions based on reading brochures or seeing ads in newspapers or on television. It's amazing to me that with all the options available, some businesses prefer to pay over $1,500 for one newspaper ad or even $500,000 for a TV spot.

Though there are still clients who don't mind paying through the nose for marketing tactics that do little to improve their bottom line, the smarter population recognizes that the Web is the most efficient method to market its products and services. And while marketing firms continue to preach about how web development is just another tool in their tool chest or how social media is just media, other firms study feverishly to understand the medium. This may seem like progress but many of these firms that struggle to understand the Web will never get past the passe concept of banner ads if their counsel is coming from industry publications like Advertising Age.

Sources like these (and many of the nation's most recognizable agencies) try to understand the Web within the context of the industry's milieus of the past 50 years. These advisors feel threatened and resent the fact that now anyone can produce a video or publish a magazine. Yet because they hear social media is hot right now, these publications do their best to educate their subscribers. Marketing firms are drinking in as much of this swill as they can so they can appear knowledgeable to prospective clients. Despite what they've read or how many webinars they attend, they're only able to glean a rudimentary understanding of the Web, while hoping to make a quick buck off it before anyone notices.

Complacency in their ability to sell smoke-and-mirrors tactics and resentment of the Digital Age are the reasons the old guard doesn't make an effort to understand the true nature of the Web. It's also why traditional firms are losing bids to nimble, forward-thinking shops. If marketing firms are to survive in today's economy, they must stop pontificating about the glory days of advertising and begin selling the Web as their clients' primary rainmaker. It doesn't mean firms are prohibited to sell another full-page ad or media kit, but it will require the old guard to learn more than just a few new tricks.