The Art of Surprise Marketing
When Andy Nulman decided to write a marketing tome called “Pow! Right Between the Eyes: Profiting From the Power of Surprise,” he knew that to have any street cred, his book promotion had better be anything but ordinary.
That’s what led him to leverage social media in a number of unusual ways, including creating the first ever soundtrack for a business book (available on iTunes, it features songs like Peter Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey” and the Ramones’ “Gimme Gimme Shock Treatments).
Nulman is the president and CMO of Airborne Mobile, and one of the founders of Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy festival. He decided to write the book after speaking about and utilizing the concept of surprise marketing for many years.
“You have to be able to take a chance,” he says. “Surprise marketing isn’t something for the meek or conservative.”
In that vein, he’s not only blogging about his book tour but posting videos such as this one detailing his desire to join the Rock Bottom Remainders, a band comprised of famous authors.
Nulman also took advantage of the blogosphere by issuing a 200 blogger challenge—the first 200 bloggers to write about the book received a copy of “Pow!” Some also got prizes, such as a pair of official “Pow!” jeans (yes, the book has an official denim sponsor,) a free speech from Nulman or, the grand prize, representation by a literary agent to get their own book deal.
In his own business, the mobile space, Nulman says there’s great opportunity to apply the principles he writes about.
“The mobile space itself was a surprise,” he notes. “When we started, no one ever gave it a chance in hell to succeed. We said ‘the screens are going to be color. You’re going to be downloading images to your screen that you can use as wallpaper. And you’ll have jingles you can download for your ringtone. And you’ll be able to watch video.’ They looked at us like we were crazy. Now, that stuff is standard. But what’s the next thing? We’re working on things now to take it to the next level of utility from frivolity.”
