I am about to say three words that might
make you groan or cheer: Ice Bucket Challenge. There are those who despise the
very idea and concept of the Ice Bucket Challenge, and there are those who
fully support the trend: each person with his or her own argument as to why the
campaign is awesome or stupid.
As a public relations major, it has been
interesting for me to follow the chatter and progress of the campaign. Now, it
is my turn to weigh in on what I think of the infamous Ice Bucket Challenge,
and I believe this campaign is brilliant from every angle.
From a public relations and social media
perspective the Ice Bucket Challenge is perfection. Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Tipping Point, outlines what makes
certain ideas “tip.” One of those factors is the power of connectors.
Connectors are simply what they sound
like: people who know the right people. Connectors are individuals who know people
from every different kind of industry, background, religion, and way of life. Connectors
are the people you go to the super market with and barely get through the store
because they are chatting with everyone from the cashier to the old lady in
isle five.
The Ice Bucket Challenge has its fair
share of connectors. For example, according alsa.org
the idea for the Ice Bucket Challenge was originally started by a total of three
families and went viral with the Frates family in Boston. These three families must
have been connectors; otherwise it wouldn’t be the phenomenon it is today.
When the Frates family posted the very
first Ice Bucket Challenge video in Boston, they must have known the right
kinds of people on social media to get the idea to spread. Celebrities were soon called out for the
challenge, and I would argue that they serve as the greatest connectors for the
campaign.
Everyone from Jimmy Fallon to the New
York Jets participated in the challenge. And the great thing about having
celebrities latch on to the trend is that they challenge other celebrities, and
more times than not these famous figures perform the ceremonial chilling
experience on live television for even those who don’t use social media to see.
Another
valuable PR strategy that made this campaign effective is the idea of
“stickiness.” I first read about the
concept of stickiness in Chip and Dan Heath’s book, Made to Stick. In this book the authors outline six key principles referred
to as the SUCCESs acronym. SUCCESs is
six ideas that create “sticky” messaging: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete,
Credible, Emotional and Stories. If you stop and think, the Ice Bucket
Challenge fits all the criteria for a sticky idea.
For
starters, this campaign is simple. Almost everyone has access to an empty
bucket and some ice, and with the prevalence of iphones it’s not hard to find
someone with a camera who can video you and then instantly upload your experience
to social media.
Next,
The Ice Bucket Challenge is unexpected. When you hear that someone is going to
dump a bucket of ice cold water on their head for disease awareness, it gets
your attention. That’s not normally what someone would do to raise awareness
and donations for a cause. A 5K or bake sale would seem reasonable, but using a
bucket of ice water to raise awareness isn’t something you hear about every
day.
The
concept is concrete. You can break it down into four simple actions: nominate,
pour the ice water, post and donate. People can wrap their heads around the
idea and see the effects of their actions instantly.
Additionally,
Ice Bucket Challenge is credible. Credibility can come from many different
sources. Celebrities help make this campaign credible. However, seeing “average
joes” such as your church’s pastor or your next door neighbor participate in
the challenge helps people who may be hesitant about the campaign to hop on
board with the idea. I even see some people help cushion their credibly by
posting their challenge video online and later posting a screen shot of their
donation to ALS to prove that they actually kept their word on their donation.
The
Ice Bucket Challenge is emotional. ALS is a terrible disease that affects
people all over the world, and there is no cure. What is more emotional than
that? With the rise of the Ice Bucket Challenge brings the rise in the number of
people who speak out about loved one suffering from ALS. This also ties into the
last stickiness factor: stories. Not only are people dumping water on their
heads they are telling stories about their personal connections to ALS.
Say
what you want about the Ice Bucket Challenge. In the words of Taylor Swift,
“Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate” and that’s fine. Everyone is
entitled to his or her opinion. However, if you ask me what I think of the Ice
Bucket Challenge, I will tell you that I think it’s the perfect social media
campaign that “tipped” with the help of the right kinds of people because it
was sticky enough to do so.