A Lesson In Business Strategy From What the Duck
September/22/2008 Buzz Marketing
I know that lots of you follow the adventures of that camera-loving online cartoon character, "What the Duck," drawn by Wisconsin cartoonist and bass-playing band member Aaron Johnson. The strip tells about the trials and tribulations of a professional photographer who happens to be a duck. I believe that I qualify as a What Junkie. In fact I just ordered what is bound to become my second-favorite t-shirt: It features the duck and was designed by his creator. See it below:
In case you are wondering about my most-favorite t-shirt, here's what it says: The more you complain, the longer God lets you live." I believe this sentiment might just appeal to my duck-buddy What.
Well if you haven't heard, What the Duck is going big time! Aaron's strip is being syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate (UPS), so What might even be coming to a newspaper in YOUR town, and a book deal for 2009 also is in the works!
As you can probably guess, the odds of a cartoonist getting his strip syndicated are about as good as a gun-toting, moose-stalking mother of 5 from a little town in Alaska running for vice-president of the United States. Fortunately for all of us What-lovers, UPS will allowWhattheDuck.net (and now .com as well) to flourish, and bloggers can continue to link to strips that strike their fancy to their sites, as I've done in the past. Hooray! Apparently UPS understands how helpful unfettered Internet access and social media marketing can be to its bottom line.
And that's exactly what caught my attention about Aaron and his curiously appealing duck in the first place: Arron's very interesting use of the Internet and social sites to propel his duck to cult status. It seemed to me that there is something for all of us to learn from Aaron about capturing the attention of the public by studying this audacious business strategy. Many students in my classes are quick to argue with my thinking about giving your work away to the right audience, under the right circumstances. Clearly that strategy has paid off for Aaron Johnson and his buddy What. So I continue to believe there's a lesson here for studio owners: If you want to get attention and set the right people talking about you . . . go where they are and be generous!!
To read the particulars about What's syndication click here. Inside this PopPhoto.com article, you'll find a link to an earlier article about the What the Duck's business strategy. In case you miss it there, just click here.
And and every now and then, look to the sky: If you see a duck flying overhead with a camera around his neck, it's just What the Duck moving on to bigger and brighter horizons.