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What The 'Anchorman 2' Campaign Can Teach Us About Social Media Marketing

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Who would have thought that Ron Burgundy would have turned out to be so social media savvy? The bellbottom-clad newsman with delusions of grandeur is everywhere: On the news in Bismarck, North Dakota, anchoring the Canadian Curling Trials in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and offering up congrats to Irish actor Jamie Dornan for nabbing the lead in 50 Shades of Grey.

Paramount's marketing team is pulling out all the stops with their campaign for Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, and, as Adweek declared in November, the social strategy is "unlike anything done before." Could this type of social media push work for any film or TV show, or do you need to be an established brand with a rabid fan base to pull it off?

I talked to Jack Macleod, SVP and General Manager of MXM Social, about his take on the Anchorman campaign, the biggest mistakes businesses make when it comes to social media marketing, and the challenge of breaking through the noise to create a lasting impression.

Forbes: What’s the first thing you tell clients when they come to you?

Macleod: We get entertainment. We get the stakes and the rhythm of it; we understand that entertainment has a unique dynamic that might not apply to other industries. We tell them how important it is for talent to be involved in the marketing, and for social media to be built into the core of everything. For TV the integration of onscreen prompts for social is really important.

Forbes: Anchorman 2 has a built-in audience and is already a brand, so do you think the social media/marketing strategy they’re using could apply to projects that don’t have a built-in audience yet?

Macleod: In rare instances maybe, but it’s awfully hard to compete with characters that are known and loved by millions of people. You can’t replicate that. It’s truly the unique advantage of a sequel or a property like The Hunger Games or The Lord of the Rings that established those fan bases through the books. If it’s something that’s not on people’s radar screens at all, something like this wouldn’t work as effectively as it appears to be working.

Forbes: So you think the Anchorman campaign is reaching its potential?

Macleod: From what I see it appears to be doing great from a buzz-building standpoint. It’s entertaining and it’s built to share based on its inherent comedic content. The big piece that I’m not able to see is the science aspect.

Forbes: What do you mean by the “science aspect”?

Macleod: What I mean by that is: What are they doing with the data that they’re amassing through this campaign? Are they connecting fans’ social data to their own database to take advantage of social CRM? Are they integrating mobile to drive advanced ticket purchases and texting show times for local theaters? Are they building a list of consumers to remarket to when the DVD comes out? Are they building a database to which they can market other films from the Paramount portfolio? If they’re doing those things then they’ve fully mastered the art and science of social media content marketing.

Forbes: There’s so much information and so many things going viral each day. One day everyone is talking about Anchorman, and the next day it’s back to Kim ad Kanye. How do you handle the short attention span of the public when you’re devising campaigns?

Macleod: You have to build campaigns that are compelling enough to stand on their own, apart from whatever the topic du jour is. Ultimately that’s what great marketing is. The one I always think of is the Dos Equis guy. I could geek out on this for a second, but that is what great marketing is. They created a character that is totally entertaining and you just can’t wait to hear their next quip about why this guy is the “most interesting man in the world.” I want to hear that regardless of what’s happening today or whether it’s National Cupcake Day or whether Nelson Mandela has just passed. There is room in the consumer’s mindset to be receptive to the right content. Great marketing is building campaigns that can break through. The opportunity is there for any branded content campaign to connect to whatever is going on. That’s why “real-time marketing” has been the buzzword of the year. There really is true value to be gleaned from it, but there are risks to be aware of as well with that. Breaking through that short attention span dynamic is ultimately the challenge that marketers have.

Forbes: What do you think is the more powerful social media tool right now?

Macleod: To me the single most powerful social media tool is the share button or the retweet button. That’s why social media holds so much promise for marketers. It’s so easy to share their message with people. If you want to press me on a tool I would actually say it would be one of the listening tools, and there are a couple of great ones out there. The reason the social listening tool is so important is because that’s really where success begins and ends. It’s where the generation of insights are derived from - listening and those insights should be informing the approach to social from the beginning.

Forbes: Besides Dos Equis, what other campaigns stand out in your mind?

Macleod: Of course my head goes to the Sharknado phenomenon, and yet that was really more about the film itself versus the marketing. It was truly unique in a world where almost nothing is and I think that’s why it exploded and became this phenomenon. There was so much buzz about it that the ratings dramatically increased when they ran it after the initial debut, and that’s purely fed by social media buzz.

Forbes: What are some of the common mistakes you see clients making?

Macleod: The biggest one is that they’ll build a marketing campaign and then come to us and ask for a social strategy and from our standpoint social needs to be at the core of every marketing strategy and frankly at the core of every business. It’s an element that amplifies every aspect of marketing. That’s the number one thing and related to that, content approvals are an issue. When a client comes to us and says they want to break new ground with amazing social content and we then find out they have to get layers of approvals in advance it really puts a stranglehold on the promise of social media because it really is most effective when done in this real-time, newsroom kind of way. That’s when you’re really maximizing its relevance. Those are the biggest mistakes we’ve seen: Social media strategy as an afterthought and multiple layers of approvals for each piece of content. It hamstrings your ability to succeed.

Forbes: What new trends are you excited about?

Macleod: The trends I’m most excited about are what you’re starting to see with the impact of real-time TV programming. Whether it’s The Voice or Sound of Music of Million Second Quiz or awards shows, you’re staring to see a viewing experience emerge that cannot be replicated in a time shifted, DVR-based viewing environment. In other words, people enjoy watching a show more when they can either be participating via voting or other engagement or participating in some sort of conversation while the show is on. That obviously doesn’t apply when you’re watching something three days later on your DVR. It’s a really interesting emerging trend that I think is impacting the type of programming that the networks are producing.

Forbes: And what do you think the Anchorman campaign signifies as far as where social media marketing is headed?

Macleod: It’s interesting because Anchorman is about a newsman, and increasingly the news is getting their stories from what’s “trending” on social media. I think social is just going to continue to become more prominent in our society. You see it happening in very subtle ways but it’s common for newscasts these days to say what’s trending today. If someone has not fully bought into the power of social it’s just a matter of time because it’s really changing our culture. It’s changing the way news is reported and the way information is disseminated and the way that marketing is done.

Follow Dina Gachman on Twitter @TheElf26.