PyroMarketing

Milk-aWhat? Pt. II

My theory that Lindsay Lohan's $100 million suit against E*Trade is really a publicity stunt collaboration between the paparazzi magnet and the online stock trading firm got further confirmation this past week when E*Trade continued to run the advertisement that purportedly sparked the suit.  If the suit were real, then I strongly suspect E*Trade's lawyers would have advised the company to refrain from running it until the issue was settled.  But no, the company continued to run the ad.  Is that because it knew it wasn't risking anything because it couldn't lose a law suit that wasn't real in the first place?

Meanwhile, AdAge reports that the controversy delivered 3 million online views for the E*Trade spot.

If this turns out to be a big hoax, it will do significant damage to both brands. Backroom deals may have worked in the mass media age when the individual was powerless, but won't fly in a digital era where social media empowers the average Joe.

PyroMarketing for PCPA

I just shared my PyroMarketing message with PCPA, and organization of denominational Christian publishers that meet annually in Nashville.  I promised to post the slides online so that no one in the audience would get carpel tunnel trying to take notes.

Please let me know if I can help your company market its products this way, train your staff, or help you rein-vision your company in light of the changes wrought by the digital revolution.  Spread the fire. GS

Download Pyromarketing for pcpa

"Milk-a-what?" Is the Lindsay Lohan - E*Trade lawsuit a publicity stunt?

Lindsay Lohan has emerged from rehab long enough to file a $100 million lawsuit against E*Trade Financial.  Lohan claims the milkaholic "Lindsay" character in E*Trade's latest television commercial is based on her and that she should have paid something--or a hundred million somethings--as compensation.  Sheesh, I guess whoever cast Lohan in Mean Girls knew what they were doing.

This story was all over the news yesterday.  Each time someone covered it, they replayed the advertisement.  Each time they blogged about it they described the ad, or linked to it.  E*Trade and Lindsay Lohan got millions of dollars worth of traditional and social media exposure.  And that got me to thinking...

What if this is just a publicity stunt?  What if E*Trade and Lindsay Lohan have been in cahoots from the beginning?  Did the agency agree to pay Lohan a fee if she would file a patently ridiculous lawsuit because they knew that such a story would be irresistible to the media and gossip hounds?  Have the media been played like a Stradivarius?  I think this is a distinct possibility.

Pay attention to how this turns out.  If it's legit, then Lohan will pursue it through the courts until she gets a verdict.  But I predict another outcome.  I predict that either Lohan will drop the suit entirely or that the parties will "agree to settle out of court for an undisclosed sum (Lohan's payment for participating?)."  Call me a cynic, but my theory seems the most logical explanation for such an absurd suit.

Spread the fire. GS