This is a bit off-topic for my blog, but I think anyone trying to do any sort of Internet Marketing can probably learn something from it.

As you may have already seen, Jack In The Box (a quick-service food company based in Southern California) is running a combo TV/Radio/Internet/Real-World advertising campaign that looks to be the smartest and best-executed I have ever seen.  How many attempts at Internet/viral marketing from “big companies” have you ever seen that were not totally lame?  Jack In The Box has really broken the mold and done it right.


The Idea:

• In a tragic accident, “Jack” the founder/CEO of Jack In The box, who has been appearing in all of the Jack In The Box commercials for the last few years is hit by a bus while crossing the street.  A tragedy like this is “breaking news” and should be covered “live” via the Internet.  The country has not been traumatized like this since that President Jim Kennedy guy was shot from that bell-tower back in the roaring 50′s and people are “hungry” for information.

The Execution:

• TV/Radio Campaign kicked off during the SuperBowl (See it on YouTube)
• Ongoing TV/Radio ads directing people to the website/blog with updates on how Jack is doing
• Real world updates: Hand-typed notices taped up at Jack In The Box stores letting people know Jack’s status

Sounds like your run of the mill, moderately well-done advertising campaign – UNTIL you look at the blog they have created to give updates on Jack’s condition, www.hangintherejack.com.  This is where Jack In The Box has really used the power of the internet, and pulled everything together correctly, like I’ve never seen any other ‘big company’ do before.  Take a close look at what they are doing at HangInThereJack.com:

• A simple WordPress-looking blog – not some multimillion-dollar, flash-laden website created by a team of high-priced web-designers and Six Sigma stat-heads.  And this is not because they could not afford it – remember, they kicked this whole thing off during the Superbowl
• “Live” get-well wishes via a shout-box
• Upload your own get-well video via YouTube
• Sign up for eMail and Mobile updates on Jack’s condition (wonder what they’ll do with all those email addresses?)
• “Real” YouTube videos of the “Doctors”, “Nurses” and first responders that are treating Jack
• Flickr Photos of the accident scene
• Updates via Twitter
• Jack’s Facebook Page for friends and well-wishers
• Links to Stumble, DIGG, Reddit, etc
• Address to send snail-mail get-well cards
• Only ONE advertisement/Link to try to sell any hamburgers
• No Myspace page (They are smart enough to realize that Myspace is dead!)

Again, maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the boys at Jack In The Box really pulled this off the right way.  It may not go “viral” the way they are hoping (or, maybe it will – It got me to blog about it!) but this is the first time I have seen such ‘real’ use of the internet for an advertising campaign.

If you have ever seen a better-executed internet advertising campaign, please post a comment about it.  And, oh, please post your get well wishes for Jack too!