From crowdsourcing to viral comedy

Crowdsourcing is viewed to be a brilliant digital marketing concept, inviting the public to engage in the project and develop a personal connection to it in order to accelerate the research process. The intended result of crowdsourcing is to introduce and invite a personal connection to the target audience. It's also a good way for a brand to gain e-reputation/general earned publicity through blog and social media sharing. Such was the thinking of Britain’s Natural Environment Research Council when in March 2016 a contest to name a new 300-million polar research vessel was announced. The public was invited to vote online for the name of the future NERC ship, as well as learn about the mission to conduct critical research on global warming, melting ice and ecosystems in the arctic waters.

However, it is common for internet based naming contests for pranksters to hijack the campaign and promote comically unsuitable names. In the past few years, internet contests such as Mountain Dew’s “Dub The Dew” and Lays’ “Do Us a Flavor” campaigns have PROMOTED names such as “Diabeetus and “Kettle-cooked excessive debt”. Following the pattern, the overwhelming majority winner of NERC’s contest was “Boaty McBoatface”. And, like in the other hijacked contests, the winning name was deemed unusable. The vessel was respectfully dubbed “RRS Sir David Attenborough” and the crowdsourced opinion overlooked. So, was this contest a failure?


The original intent of the campaign was to give the public “ across the UK the opportunity to feel part of this exciting project and the untold discoveries it will unearth”, as stated by Science Minister Jo Johnson at the campaigns announcement. Although not in the most direct way, exactly this was achieved. Through virtue of the comical name, as of May “ the #BoatyMcBoatface hashtag had reached 214 million Twitter users, and that 60,000 people had viewed videos about the research vessel’s mission”. (The Atlantic, 2016). Furthermore, the viral name expanded the viewers of the campaign. It was now activly seen across social media by conosours of internet humor - primarily young people - on a global level. Not only were people now informed of the NERC project, the brand positioning became one of lighthearted, warm and humorous. According to Duncan Wingham, climate scientist and NERC’s chief executive, the campaign was an “incredible success”.

While the monumental interest in the campaign gave momentum to the projecy, the following steps brought it to a halt. Boaty McBoatface was in a unique position - for anything to go viral is a an unpredictable and rare occurance. A government organization, the NERC debated the final decision with the House of Commons’ Science and Technology Committee. Many ideas were discussed on how to “capitalize in the long term on the formidable Boaty ‘brand’”, such as “a video stream to chronicle the submarine’s “many adventures”. But ultimatly, instead of using the captured audience of “ hundreds of thousands of people who voted, and the millions more around the world who followed the Boaty McBoatface saga “, the choice was made to rename the ship after British naturalist David Attenborough. This resulted in general disappointed and further lack of interest from the global public.

To conclude, the case of NERC’s McBoatface is highly amusing and cautionary. It demonstrates the risk taken when seeking free media coverage. But it also demonstrates that granted a degree of flexibility, massive viral comical coverage can lead to significant brand awareness with a positive emotional connection. However, the response to such a campaign is also very important. Viral internet humor gains public interest incredibly fast, but only for a limited time. The digital marketing team must recognize that at this time, a response of embracing the humor is necesaary to maintain any further connection and public interest




Source: The Lessons of Boaty McBoatface
Image: Natural Environment Research Council
By Nadiya Kutishcheva & Staël Anicet