Inside the Mind of a Freelance Copywriter

Blogs and the art of viral marketing

Sala Aharef, a young artist working out of a small studio in Zurich, Switzerland, must surely be the envy of anyone who has ever struggled to sell a single painting. That’s just what went through my mind when I read about him a few weeks ago on Seth Godin’s blog. Sala has sold over five hundred of his works in four months flat! All thanks to an ingenious idea that lends itself to some highly effective (or should I say infectious?) viral marketing.

What he did was to get hold of one thousand identical canvasses, paint a unique number from 1 to 1000 on each one and put them all up for sale on www.onethousandpaintings.com.

Technically demanding? Not at all. Monotonous? Maybe. Effective? You bet!

Arguably, any random squiggle is closer to being a masterpiece than a plain blue number painted onto a white background. However, what makes Sala’s work stand out is the concept – and the courage he had to do something so apparently ridiculous that nobody would even dream of in the first place.

In a society that is taught (and generally expected) to conform, avoid risk, and to stick to the beaten path, it is natural to look up to anyone who manages to pull off something that sounds impossible. People are inspired by stories that tell of success against all odds. And what Sala is selling is the chance for anyone who has a few bucks to spare to become part of something daring – and at the same time outrageously successful – without even leaving their armchair. What Sala is really selling are thrills!

In fact, the very outrageousness of this project is the seed of its success. It sounds so crazy that you want to tell your friends about it – and they want to tell their friends – and the whole thing balloons and suddenly hundreds of paintings are sold almost overnight. That’s viral marketing, and it’s very powerful indeed!

Sala’s art is not in the paintings themselves. His idea is 100% of his art. And the idea’s potential to turn viral is 99% of the project’s success. This brings us to the remaining (and crucial) 1% – blogs, and the amazing power they have to spread messages around.

Brian Baute describes how, after over three months of stagnation, Sala’s painting sales shot right through the roof within a few days of BoingBoing, Digg and Seth Godin – and eventually hundreds of other bloggers – spreading the word about his one thousand paintings. Take a look at the sales graph on Brian’s blog and see for yourself.

It seems as though Sala might have never made it (or at best would have been in for a very long wait) were it not for the incredible efficiency of blogs to transmit his viral message to the masses.

Now there’s some food for thought if you’re looking for some great publicity for your business!

June 17th, 2006 TrackBack URI