I know it's mentioned in the book "Grapevine : The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing" which comes out November 3rd. Those of us who have pre-release copies have been talking about it a lot. I know the BK chicken is listed in the book as how a web site can draw huge numbers but not result in any additional Whopper sales.

40 Million HITS in a week. I had a friend just put up a home-made website, and he got all excited because he'd already had over 1000 hits to his site, which isn't exactly an indication to the number of people visiting.

Everytime someone asks the chicken to do something stupid, there will be a hit on the webserver.

This is at least 12-18 months old. Blogs are meant to be commentary about current news and info. This make it look like you're out of touch buddy, not a good look for a marketing guy.

It is old but the point is useful that a quirky site gets that number of hits.

And with its longevity that's another reason it's impressive.

Usually viral branding efforts shoot up and then fade very quickly.

Cheers

Brendon

The key to good viral marketing is getting your audience to do something. I don't think subserviant chicken is a very good example this.

A much better example is Golden Palace. They get world wide media mentions buy doing things like bidding thousands of dollars on the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese Sandwich. They pay streakers to display their url at sporting events.

Is it working? Every time I see a story for a wierd ebay auction chances are Golden Palace bought the item. For perhaps $100,000 a year they are getting their name out to millions -- many who might be interested in online gambling.

Subserviant chicken? Did anyone say, hmm maybe I'm not going to McDonalds today? Perhaps.

Brendon,

Once again you mixed up "hits" and real visitors. For a seasonal marketer that doesn't sound very serious. It sounds like another cheesy sell tactic and does not give you credit, specifically when the news is so old...

Not sure where I've mixed up hits and visitors. Part of the challenge of writing things is being concise - if I have to get in and explain the difference between hits and visitors then the posts would be long and dull.

And then you continue to whine about "cheesy sell tactic" (not sure what I'm selling) and the fact that the site is old (it was launched in 2004).

As I mentioned above, the fact that the site is still making news and getting hits after a year is a great example of the longevity of a quality viral marketing campaign.

I'm not sure what your point is??

Cheers

Brendon