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1. Marketing That Surprises: A Special Guest Host Takes Over
Marketing Smarts [Podcast]
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Today is April 1, a day long associated with tomfoolery and surprises. Here at MarketingProfs, we
prefer surprises that delight, so we've arranged a delightful change of pace for this week's episode:
One of the podcast's most popular interviewees takes the helm as host for the day, and bumps Kerry
O'Shea Gorgone over to the guest chair.
They'll talk about marketing that surprises (if not always delights) and bold brands that are taking
chances on edgy marketing campaigns.
Here are just a few highlights of their delightful discussion:
If your brand has a fiercely loyal following, you have some leeway to manipulate people and tick
them off (09:35): "From a marketing perspective, [the Game of Thrones Three Eyed Raven
campaign] seems like a pretty successful campaign, because, they got people talking. Maybe they
were sort of angry about it, but at the same time it definitely incited some emotion, which in some
sense, because it is anxiety and anger and all this stuff, it almost does align with the bigger Game of
Thrones brand experience, the experience of the show itself. It's certainly different, and it's
definitely surprising."
Keep surprises happy: Don't force people to have uncomfortable conversations they're not ready for
(12:58): "Starbucks...just stopped their 'Race Together' campaign. They were urging all their
Starbucks baristas to write 'race together' on the coffee cups they gave to patrons in an effort to
promote conversations about race relations. It was surprising, and most people were not delighted
about it.... I can't imagine anybody who hasn't had their coffee yet [who] wants to have that
conversation.... It was a brand mismatch, too. When I think about Starbucks, the idea about igniting
a conversation around race relations doesn't come top of mind to me... It just seemed like a colossal
mismatch."
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2. Creative content not related specifically to your industry can delight a B2B audience (16:56): "I love
what Basecamp is doing.... It's surprising because it's not really marketing, or maybe it is. That's the
thing. It's sort of in this gray area. Just about a year ago, Basecamp, which is a project management
software company (we use it here at MarketingProfs to manage our projects), launched this little
monthly online magazine called The Distance. They hired an actual journalist, a former
reporter/writer for the Chicago Tribune, to produce one long-form illustrated story a month. And
what she wrote about is a company that's been in business for 25 years or longer and has thrived
without any...outside investment of any kind. They do not feature Basecamp prospects, they don't
feature Basecamp customers, and they don't feature technology businesses, which are the kinds of
businesses that would be more inclined to use a project management software like Basecamp. It's
interesting to me, because they are essentially heralding companies who are not customers and
probably are not prospects, either. And many of the businesses that they're talking about are kind of
quirky...really analog companies.... From a content perspective, it's something very different than
you see other companies doing.... It doesn't feel like marketing."
People today find honesty a pleasant surprise (26:12): "One of my favorite stories, a tiny little
chihuahua named 'Eddie the Terrible' was marketed by the Humane Society of Silicon Valley last
December. They wanted him to have a home for the holidays.... You know, when you see humane
society commercials on TV, like a PSA or something like that, there's always this sort of Sarah
McLachlan soundtrack to it. It always makes you feel bad and sad and guilty all at once that you
aren't adopting a dozen dogs or so (at least that's what it does for me).... That kind of vibe is the
general tenor of a lot of shelter marketing out there. What I loved about what the Humane Society of
Silicon Valley did is that they turned that on its head. Instead, they described this dog as 'Eddie the
Terrible,' they did a video, they did a whole visual campaign about him and showed what a horrible
dog he is. They described him as a 'pint-sized demon,' a 'tiny tornado of a dog.' He became a viral
sensation...because of the approach that they took.... I loved that they were blatantly honest in the
marketing of...this dog.... The whole marketing notion behind it was here's why you DON'T want to
adopt Eddie the Terrible.... It was just so refreshingly honest. They were like, 'This dog was kind of a
jerk, but he could be a good fit for you.'"

3. To learn more about Marketing Smarts host Kerry O'Shea Gorgone, check out KerryGorgone.com, or
follow Kerry on Twitter: @KerryGorgone.
Our special guest host and I talked about much more, so be sure to listen to the entire show, which
you can do above, or download the mp3 and listen at your convenience. Of course, you can also
subscribe to the Marketing Smarts podcast in iTunes or via RSS and never miss an episode!
This episode brought to you by CallidusCloud.
Special thanks to production sponsor Candidio, an efficient, affordable video production platform
allowing marketers and communicators to collaborate and curate video content, with help from a
team of professional, on-demand video editors for the finishing touches. Check them out!
Show opener music credit: Noam Weinstein.

4. This marketing podcast was created and published by MarketingProfs.
Ann Handley, chief content officer at MarketingProfs, keynote speaker, and
author of the the Wall Street Journal bestseller Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating
Ridiculously Good Content, as well as the best-selling Content Rules (co-written with C.C. Chapman).
Kerry O'Shea Gorgone is instructional design manager, enterprise training, at MarketingProfs. She's
also a speaker, writer, attorney, and educator. She hosts and produces the weekly Marketing Smarts
podcast. To contact Kerry about being a guest on Marketing Smarts, send her an email, or you can
find her on Twitter (@KerryGorgone), Google+, and her personal blog.
http://www.marketingprofs.com/podcasts/2015/27376/surprise-marketing-smarts-podcast