Free Hugs and Sick Puppies…An Amazing Marketing Combination
What do you do if you want to market your hugs? Easy…it’s back to basics of supply and demand. Simply hold up a sign letting people know what you are offering. The ones who want it will let you know.
Yeah, well what if the cops are opposed to your marketing your hugs because you might hurt someone? Then you fight back by asking the people you hugged (all 10,000 of them) to sign your petition.
This story of hugging takes place in Sydney, Australia.
Here is the commentary:
“Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, a man whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.
In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.
As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.“
A member of the Australian band, Sick Puppies, took video clips of Juan’s story that he filmed last year. He combined them with one of his band’s songs to create a video intended to make his grandfather smile. It worked so well, the band put the clip on YouTube to cheer up more people.
And, some fantastic things happened…
In six days, one million people have watched the YouTube clip, people are organizing their own Free Hug campaigns in malls all over, and Good Morning America featured both Sick Puppies and Juan the Hugger on the show.
Watch the story of the Free Hugs campaign here.
Here is the local commentary on a Sydney news station. And one other story of Juan the hugger on another Australian news program.
Hugs to you, Wendy Maynard
Your friendly marketing maven
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on October 17th, 2006 at 10:16 am
Thank you Maven for your hug. Physical contact is a healing touch. We all need hugs especially in this time of fear and alienation. Bravo to Juan Mann. Let’s hope this catches on everywhere. It could transform our planet. One person can make a difference. This is similar to the one monkey story: Thousands of monkeys lived on an island and they loved sweet potatoes. They had always dug them up and ate them dirt and all. One day a monkey dropped his sweet potato in the water by the shore. Yum, he thought. A clean potato with a salty taste is good. It wasn’t long before all the monkeys (monkey see, monkey do) washed their sweet potatoes. Hugs and sweet potatoes to all. Barbara
on April 30th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
[...] he has created customer evangalists worldwide and sparked a whole new craze. Granted, the hugs were free, however Juan recognised what people are passionate about and offered it to them. Simple. But the results are incredible, this guy is all over the news, YouTube and the blogosphere, he has created customer evangalists worldwide and sparked a whole new craze. Don’t you wish your business had that kind of impact? [...]