As consumers of Internet marketing dreck, we've reached a point where, at least in theory, nothing sounds too stupid or outlandish. Save for peppering their videos with saucy jokes about the
prophet Muhammad, marketers can only do so much to provoke a reaction. Collectively, we might have passed the point of jadedness saturation; if we expended a smirk on every piece of content that
merited one, our faces would be creased like an envelope.
Case in point: "Get Hybrid: The Mattress Rap
Song." 'Twas a time where a title of that ilk would prompt a wave of mockery, even before the clip received its token courtesy view. Now, it's like, "Oh, an obscure maker of mattress coils has
hired the Second City folks to create a rap-video satire designed to… um, to promote their Hybrid line of mattress coils to
mattress manufacturers whose mattress-coil needs aren't being met, I think? That makes perfect sense."
But here's the thing: It doesn't. As parody, "Get Hybrid" is keenly observed, amplifying
the hip-hop genre's every inanity (the transparent bluster, the all-white wardrobes, etc.). The lyrics take their share of witty turns ("If you
want somebody to get in your vicinity/You prollly wanna feel a little bit of our hybridity"). With a catchy melodic hook in the chorus, the song wouldn't sound out of place on urban-leaning radio
stations. This is an impeccably crafted piece of work, assembled by people with obvious talent. Seriously. "Get Hybrid" is really, really effin' good.
And it's also pointless, unless
business-to-business mattress industry players (excuse me - "playaz") are as easily motivated and entertained as teenage girls. I'll allow that my mattress experience is limited to reclining on them,
but I can't see what a "sleep technology leader" (quoth the press release) like Leggett & Platt has to gain by wading into the viral ocean.
For one
thing, it's not a consumer-facing operation, at least not to the 99.999999 percent of the population that doesn't geek out over commercial fixturing and components. Similarly, the company doesn't
appear to have a hot new product that demands the sort of attention a viral-minded clip can bring. As for the L&P brand, well, if it's associated with anything beyond meat-and-potatoes competence
and trustworthiness, there's no evidence of it anywhere on the web.
I don't know what else to say, really. I try not to ascribe motives to people other than myself and the cast of "Celebrity Rehab," but maybe this is one of those stodgy-company-attempts-not-to-be-stodgy-anymore
situations? Maybe Old Man Leggett decided to flash up a site on the Internet web and go viral with some of that hippety-hop that the kids are all
listening to, perhaps to get people to stop calling him "Old Man Leggett"? I dunno. I can't make any sense of this thing.
I'll say this, though. I want to meet the Second City Communications
salesperson who convinced a staid bedding-components manufacturer to invest in a clip that was clearly expensive to produce. That's the guy or gal we should all want in our marketing/branding
foxholes.