It’s in the air, part of the zeitgeist – it’s Breaking Bad.
And like all phenomena which own the Twitterized water cooler for one brief, shining moment, it’s what folks want to talk about – a lot – right up until it’s over.
Look at how this moment is being captured and capitalized on in unconventional ways:
Social platform Path.com has created Breaking Bad avatars – available for sale in the platform’s store (ka-ching!)
Two lucky contest winners were able to ride with star Bryan Cranston in an RV wearing Hazmat suits to the season premiere. Yes!
iTunes has dozens of podcasts featuring conversation about Breaking Bad
Jimmy Fallon generates a ton of publicity by Tweeting his photo dressed like Cranston in full costume and makeup
Breaking Bad tees are a cottage industry
The LA Times hosts a live Google Hangout with co-star Aaron Paul
AMC features a talk show following Breaking Bad called Talking Bad following in the footsteps of Talking Dead, the successful bookend to The Walking Dead
And on and on and on.
So is your radio station talking about this show?
I’ll bet you are (I hope you are). But how many stations are transforming their dialogue about this hit show into contagious social currency – a.k.a. word-of-mouth for your brands?
It should not be lost on you that every single one of the items I listed above is in some way related to stoking attention, interest, connection, and consumption between fans of the show and brands that are also fans of the show.
Path is stoking usage in Path and monetizing that usage. The contest is aiming for contest players (and supporting a charity). Podcast-makers are gunning for listeners. Jimmy Fallon wants to hijack Breaking Bad to goose his own ratings. The LA Times wants to stay relevant to consumers who are entertainment fans. And AMC is leveraging its hits the way TV networks leverage live sports broadcasts: By supplementing those broadcasts with pre-game and post-game shows.
It should also not be lost on you that many of the items above are audio-based or – in the case of Talking Bad – might as well be audio-based. The show is called Talking Bad, after all. And when I think of audio-based, I think of…radio!
So here’s my question for you, Mr. Broadcaster:
Are you creating content on the hottest topic of the day that can spin-off from the confines of your airwaves and live on digital and other platforms – the places where the fans who don’t already listen to you live?
Are you leveraging the pop cultural interests of your audience into promotional “idea bubbles” that magnify attention to your brand and interest in your content, wherever that content lives?
Or are you just talking about Breaking Bad between breaks?
Time for another song.