

What we learned from putting a ridiculous billboard on 101 - curlep
http://blog.hipchat.com/2011/06/23/a-tale-of-a-ridiculous-billboard/

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dkokelley
Meme backlash is certainly something to be watchful for. Reddit and other
meme-hubs can be absolutely vicious when it comes to their sacred symbols. Hot
Topic recently started printing some memes on their shirts, and 4chan trolled
them in a very public and embarrassing way. (see:
[http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-
shirt-...](http://www.urlesque.com/2010/11/18/hot-topic-rage-guy-shirt-4chan-
racism-troll/))

I guess if you go this route you have to weigh the risks and rewards.

~~~
rokhayakebe
_4chan trolled them in a very public and embarrassing way_

And I suspect the majority of Hot Topic customers do not know 4chan, hence it
does not matter. On the internet it is very easy for a group of people to
overestimate their impact.

~~~
dkokelley
They weren't embarrassed on the internet alone. It was in the local news
media. Still not influencing the customers, but I'd imagine their parents were
not happy about their kids buying 'racist' tshirts.

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wccrawford
The backlash is particularly interesting. 1 person checked out the site
because they were intrigued, but left confused as it seemed to be a business
chat. Didn't seem very professional to them.

Another wondered why you'd use an 'obviously racist' meme to advertise your
business. ... I still can't figure out how it's racist. I'm guessing some of
the jokes were, and not he associates all use of the meme with those jokes.

But most importantly, you haven't successfully gone viral until someone's
upset with your success. Congrats, Hipchat! :D

~~~
dkokelley
The 'obviously racist' remark comes from something similar 4Chan did to Hot
Topic when the store began printing memes on tshirts. 4Chan created incredibly
racist rage comics and submitted them to media outlets, accusing Hot Topic of
promoting racist memes.

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michaelcampbell
The good (and bad) of these sorts of "why didn't I think of that?" deals is
that they are just that; mostly 1-shots. Kudos to the guys that did it, and
woe be to the inevitable copycats.

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powdahound
Good point. It also means that it's not a repeatable marketing angle for us.

~~~
michaelcampbell
Yeah, gotta keep being creative! =)

FWIW, I loved it. I hope I didn't come across as critical; I thought it was
fantastic. (I lay as my only excuse a bad storm last night with a very nervous
10 year old keeping me to a mere pittance of sleep...)

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sylvinus
The good thing about these internet memes is that nobody will come and claim
copyright on the image ;-) (Or will they?)

~~~
dkokelley
It must be difficult to prove original art for something that becomes a meme,
especially if it's created through a semi-anonymous forum.

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huhtenberg
It's great that it gave them TC airtime, but concrete traffic numbers would've
been far more interesting to see.

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codyrobbins
Are more billboards coming in the future?

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WayneDB
At $50k for 4 weeks, maybe I should just start a billboard company instead of
an internet startup!

~~~
michaelcampbell
The money's in the picks, not the gold, son!

