Zombies, Zeitgeist & Content Marketing

Posted by: Natalya Minkovsky, Director of Strategy & User Experience Nov 18, 2011 0 Comments

From books and video games to movies and TV shows, zombies sell. Content marketers have taken notice, jumping on the zombie bandwagon to promote everything from emergency preparedness to content marketing itself.

Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) drew an unprecedented amount of traffic to its blog when the government agency published a blog post about preparing for the zombie apocalypse. While much of the blog post’s real estate was actually devoted to preparing for a more likely emergency, like a hurricane, it was the zombie angle that turned the blog post into a content marketing success story.

Last month, just in time for Halloween, the CDC continued its outreach campaign with a zombie comic book, “Preparedness 101: Zombie Pandemic.” The new zombie comic book is a content marketing win for several reasons:

• The comic book looks and feels like part of a comprehensive campaign, further strengthening the connection between the CDC and its message of being prepared for a pandemic.
• By providing important public health and safety information in a visual format, the comic book helps the agency educate a broad audience using storytelling and plain language methods. The CDC also offers an accessible text version of the comic.
• The promotion takes advantage of not just one but two pop culture moments: comic book nerds are cool now, didn’t you know?

While the CDC pretty much has the zombie market cornered when it comes to government outreach campaigns, my hope is that the CDC’s zombie campaign has inspired other government agencies to turn to pop culture to promote their message.

On Halloween, the USDA tapped into the zombie phenomenon too, transforming its ChooseMyPlate.gov icon into a meal better suited for the living dead. But like other pop culture phenomena, the zombie craze will wane. And in the meantime, zombies aren’t the solution to every communications challenge.

Need inspiration for your next outreach campaign? Here are a few tips for getting a dose of pop culture:

• Browse the shelves at your local bookstore (maybe even a comic book store).
• Watch a popular TV show—including all the commercials.
• If you usually watch indie flicks, watch a blockbuster movie.
• Next time you’re in the grocery store checkout line, pick up one of those silly entertainment magazines you never buy.
• Talk to the teens in your life. What bands are they listening to? What shows are they watching? What comic books are they reading?

When it comes to content marketing, you don’t have to be a pop culture columnist, but it helps to think like one.

Enjoy this post?

Subscribe to the feed

Natalya Minkovsky

Director of Strategy & User Experience

• Most Recent
• Topics

View all previous posts