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Can This Pickle Out Market Big Brands?

by Scott Bishop on February 23, 2010


FacebookSocial Media MarketingViral Marketing

Does This Pickle Have More Social Media Presence Than You?

Can this pickle get more fans than 90% of Big Brands?

Can a pickle beat big brands at social media marketing?  Yes…I said pickle.  It wasn’t a typo.

I recently posed the question on my blog…”Can A Brand Create a Viral Campaign?“.  I had the same debate on Twitter.  A few folks said that yes, big brands were cabable of creating viral campaigns.  Most, including me, said that they cannot.

Well, here’s the latest viral superstar.  A pickle on Facebook with a page titled Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Nickleback.

This pickle is kicking the tails of multimillion dollar budgets and the brains of multibillion dollar agencies and corporations.

In 21 days (the Facebook page was created on Feb 02,2010) this Facebook group reached 1.47 million fans.  Yes, I said million.  That my friends is the very definition of “Viral”.

Now let’s compare over 1 million Facebook fans for a pickle to other marketing campaign’s Facebook pages that have television, radio, and print campaigns to boost awareness of their pages.

Hot Tub Time Machine – (Movie) 25,262 fans

This movie has been advertising across movie theaters and on Television.  On their advertisements they are touting their Facebook page.

Sears – 159,037 fans

Television advertisements, including the Super Bowl, have been showcasing their Facebook Page at the end of the ads.

Kenneth Cole – 35,705 fans

Print advertisements have included both their Facebook and Twitter addresses.

Papa Johns – 808,674 fans

This pizza giant has been successful with social media marketing, and even after their campaigns they still fall to the pickle.

So with millions of dollars in these brands marketing budgets and billion dollar PR and marketing agencies creating campaigns, they could still not beat a pickle and the infectious activity and following of what happens when some things go viral.

Brands will continue to try and create a campaign that mimics viral activity…but in most cases a big board room full of marketing veterans can never compete with a random thought that pops into someones head and the web that catapults that thought to the moon.

But the success from silly things like this pickle is the very reason that they’ll keep trying.

This is DAY 23 of my “28 Day Blogging Challenge“

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a marketing strategist with a specialty in social media.  He is an avid blogger and active across the net.  He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Tagged as: Facebook, facebook page, hot tub time machine, kenneth cole, papa johns, sears

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  • I still think its possible for a brand to successfully pull of a viral campaign. But a grassroots facebook page will beat out a corporate page any day of the week. Did you happen to see the Onion Ring campaigns that started this mess? They started up Feb.1st and in the matter of a couple days had 2.4Million Fans - They were trying to get more fans then Stephen Harper, Justin Beiber, etc... [Since have been removed by Facebook]

    In support of the Big Brands: TGIF pulled off a solid FB campaign but like Dave said it they didn't try and get a "vote." - I believe that at one point they had over 1.5 Million Fans. -- http://www.facebook.com/fanwoody.
  • Mark Dudlik
    How many of the pickle fans are actively involved in the pickle's business? Numbers are not everything. There's low investment in clicking "Become a fan" and its simply a matter of laughing and moving on. Its viral, not long term.
  • sbishop
    There is no pickle business...it's a pickle.

    And the investment for someone to click to become a fan is almost Zero, but it requires interaction and certainly takes away attention. Brands aren't just competing with other brands, their bigger competitor is user attention. The average Facebook user becomes a fan of only 4 pages each month. This little pickle just stole 25% of 1.4 million Facebook users new monthly Pages. Under those terms, that's a big deal.
  • davevandewalle
    There's a quid pro quo here, though, that must be mentioned.

    Lindsay is (as usual) correct in saying that a vote for pickle is a vote against Nickelback.

    However, big brands usually think that they can get a vote FOR their stuff just by, well, being them. A vote for Sears is a vote for, well, Sears.

    The quid pro quo ALWAYS comes down to the exchange of something (fandom) for something else (save $10 on Craftsman tools with this Fans-only coupon).

    Big brands have gone viral - I watched a Sara Lee Deli campaign last fall from the front row and it was freaktastically cool -- 2 Million views of a video campaign. Even after the coupons were long-gone...so the quid pro quo involved "entertainment."

    Great post though. One of my friends has called Nickelback the "Eighth Circle of Suck." They give Canadian Rock a bad name.
  • sbishop
    Excellent comments, you are correct. By engaging and becoming a Fan, or Follower, is a offering their vote. Great way to phrase it.

    I'll have to check out that Sara Lee campaign...sounds interesting.

    And your friend is a genius because not only is Nickelback the "Eight Circle of Suck", they now are less popular than a pickle. But deep down, I think we all already knew that. Thanks for joining the conversation Dave.
  • I must agree with Lindsay - I became a fan of "the pickle" due to a dislike of Nickleback rather than any special affection for pickles generally, or this one specifically. But yes, random thoughts are generally more interesting than carefully planned campaigns.
  • sbishop
    I'm right with ya...I know that everyone joined because of their dislike for Nickelback, because, well...they're awful. The point was really more to point to the success at attracting engagement, as limiting as it may be, to a silly Page vs corporate brands who spend BIG bucks and can only generate 25k fans. Thanks for the comment, I appreciate you helping out the convo.
  • I like what you're getting at here, but I have to think that The Pickle's success is based more on people's dislike of Nickelback than on any real love for The Pickle itself. The problem is that brands can't do something like this to promote themselves (unless they want to get sued).

    Still, it's fascinating that something quite simple and completely grassroots can gain enough steam to amass more fans than brands that have been working at this for months or years! (And it has to be mighty frustrating for the brands.)

    Oh, and I noticed this morning that, as a follow-up to The Pickle campaign, fans of homegrown and organic foods have launched a counter-campaign of sorts: "Can this Organic Homegrown Pickle get more fans than the Nickelb@ck Pickle?": http://bit.ly/adOcOK
  • sbishop
    I think the Pickle's success is 100% based on dislike for Nickelback. That's what makes it hilarious. Well that and all of the user submitted photos.

    You could have inserted almost anything in there and it would have had solid results. The point of the post was more about the speed and power of true grass roots and if can a brand ever really capture the same effect no matter what resources are behind them.

    It's a question I enjoy to hear other's thoughts on, thanks for submitting your comments.
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