If I told you to jump off a bridge…

There are certain universal truths everybody clings to. We all know the grass is always greener, we know ketchup makes everything taste better and we absolutely know we won’t jump off that proverbial bridge… right? Well, one Stephen Tyrone Colbert (pronounced Cole-bare) has made me hesitate about that last one.

Stephen Colbert, for those of you who don’t know him, hosts a fake news show in the tradition of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Colbert portrays an ultra right-wing political pundit, cast in the image of Bill “Poppa Bear” O’Reilly, who “thinks” with his gut and considers “book” a dirty word. This Northwestern alum gained fame as a phlegmatic correspondent on the Daily Show but didn’t hit the big time until he got his own show, the Colbert Report (pronounced rapport). His controversial satire and pointed political humor landed him at last year’s foreign correspondent’s dinner, where he ignited supporters and critics alike by giving the president a more than stern talking-to. But what makes Colbert a really interesting case study for us marketing folks is his ability to mobilize millions of his minions through various web-based guerrilla initiatives.

First there was the Green Screen Challenge. Through his show Colbert invited viewers to manipulate a video in which he appears wielding a light-saber in front of a green screen. This stunt was so popular that it spawned a copy by pop group The Decembrists and thousands of video submissions to YouTube. Still, the six figure entries to this challenge pale in comparison to the response he got for his next prank.

In 2006 the would-be Jedi instructed viewers to participate in a poll to name a bridge in Hungary. Participants where instructed to enter the voting page of the Hungarian Government and nominate the name “Stephen Colbert Hid” (“Hid” is “bridge” in Hungarian.) Colbert amassed an impressive 17 million votes in two weeks, defeating his closest rival, Miklós Zrínyi Hid, by 15 million votes.

The most recent display of Colbert’s mass muscle came a few weeks ago when he urged his viewers to plant a Google bomb.A Google bomb is an attempt to influence the ranking of a given page in results returned by the Google search engine. Because of the way that Google's algorithm works, a page will be ranked higher if the sites that link to that page use consistent anchor text. A Google bomb is created if a large number of sites link this way. In his April 17 show, Colbert urged his “nation” to make him the top result when “greatest living American” was queried in Google. Two days later his wish came true. As of this posting, Colbert’s home page is the No. 1 result for “greatest living American” as well as for “giant brass balls.”

Colbert, through his internet pranks, has demonstrated various of the most important concepts of viral marketing and blogs. The green screen challenge is a wonderful example of user generated content and user empowerment. The Google bomb shows that web optimization should be an integral part of online marketing. And his bridge initiative which was disseminated through blogs across the world, speaks to the power of advocacy in a digital environment. Still, the most important lesson is the success of integration between main stream media (TV) and online marketing to create an emotional link between your brand and users.

So, would I jump off the bridge? You betcha! As long as it’s Stephen Colbert Hid…

Assignment: get the Colbert nation to read this post, we need the traffic!!!