Examples of Word of Mouth can be found in the most unlikely places. Recently, I found myself watching the William Castle inspired documentary, Spine Tingler, a film that documents Castle's intriguing film making throughout the 1950's and 1960's.
What I find striking about this documentary is how Castle is discussed. Most documentaries speak about the filmmaker's influences, his directorial style, and/or his themes; however, when many of his colleagues and other industry eminents spoke of this esteemed film maker in interviews, they often described William Castle as a "brand", and that for all of his talents as a filmmaker, his strongest asset was that he was a great "marketer." Granted, his reputation was that he was "King of the Gimmick"...but in many ways, William Castle is one of the unsung heroes of word-of-mouth marketing.
In short, William Castle would drive positive customer word-of-mouth about his movies through creative strategies, fostering a pop-culture brand which exists to this day - all of this within the context of the 1950-era media industry.
Castle's strategies for driving customer word of mouth include:
- Creating unique "brand" experiences for audience members directly within his films. Even now, he is known
for his unique stunts, such as having a skeleton "emerge" from a movie
and float through the audience (House on Haunted Hill); having a
"punishment poll" to determine the end of a movie (Mr. Sardonicus);
and most famously, having theater seats "buzz" a person in order to
encourage them to scream, as if they were participating in the film
itself (The Tingler).
Moviegoers - then and now - recognized the director's willingness to create unique experiences for his audience. In short, his "stunts" were the 1950's equivalent of offline WOM campaigns. - Developing a distinct personal brand. Castle would often
appear in his movies to provide an introduction (and, of course, to
explain the "stunt"). By doing so, he not only helped promote the film, he successfully created a personal brand that came to rival that of fellow filmmaker, Alfred Hitchcock. By closely identifying himself with his movies, Castle created offline buzz
strictly due to the force of his personality.
However, this same technique later backfired when he tried to produce the film version of Rosemary's Baby in the late 1960's. Hollywood saw him as strictly as a "B-movie" director, causing considerable negative word of mouth in the industry, ultimately preventing him from taking the role. - Encouraging
and driving conversation around key influencers and customers.
Castle would often travel to towns where his films were shot, meeting audience members (primarily 8 to 14 year old's) and interacting with them through special events. Today, we might call this "viral
marketing."
In addition, Castle developed strong relationships with key influencers within Hollywood, including Harry Cohn, then head of Columbia Studios. In fact, Castle's ability to engage influencers led to his films becoming financially profitable, as well as driving sustainable word of mouth with later influencers like Forrest J. Ackerman, collector Bob Burns, and most notably, John Waters, who wrote a tribute to Castle in the early 1980s.
So, in the spirit of William Castle's pre-WOM efforts, I turn to you, dear reader, and ask - are there any unsung pioneers of WOM? Any one in any context - popular culture, history, technology, business - who embraced word-of-mouth principles long before anyone else? Someone you feel is a true pioneer of WOM?
