Lessons from the Doghouse

By now almost everyone has seen "Beware of the Doghouse" - a great viral marketing video from the jewelry store inside JC Penny's first brought to my attention by Westerblog co-blogger Dean and colleague Larry.

This is indeed hilarious on many levels. The one aspect that I keep thinking about as a marketer though is what the pitch for this idea must have been like. We have an arguably funny premise on its own but within the specific context of driving holiday jewelry traffic to a fairly average mall anchor store, this sketch could seem like a bit of a stretch. Really an "outside of the box" idea. It only features the brand name once at the very end (if you blink you could miss it). Even the microsite the video drives traffic too is subtle (funny? yes; a traditional Penny's merchandising site? no). To the guy or gal at the end of the table whose job it is to give something a thumbs up or down, this was risky decision.

Now in the end it paid off. BIG. The video has been shared over and over and is a runaway success. Hindsight being what it is, one cannot think of a better way to make Penny's standout from the cluttered jewelry retail crowd. But months back, to the guy at the end of the table and the team pitching the idea, this probably had a lot of folks reaching for the Rolaids. Well played.