Recently President Obama appeared on the show Between Two Ferns hosted by Zach Galifianakis. Obama came on to the show to promote awareness of HealthCare.gov. The President did this in order to appeal and reach out to young adults. The Obama administration saw an opportunity to reach out to a specific demographic and acted upon it. The video has generated over 19 million views on the website where it was originally uploaded funnyordie.com. Hours after Obama appeared on the show, the video directly sent over 32,000 users to HealthCare.gov. Healthcare.gov immediately had a spike of traffic and it only increased as time went on. The Internet has enabled organizations to directly tap into specific demographics. What would organizations have to do to reach specific demographics without the internet? What are other methods to reach target demographics using technology? And finally, would you rate the above video moderately comical or absolutely hilarious?
I believe the next best alternative in reaching out to the younger demographics is through television. For example, immediately after the broadcasting the 2010 Super Bowl, CBS aired Undercover Boss. Similarly in 2012, NBC aired The Voice right after the Super Bowl. Guess how these shows were performing? Superb (at least for that season)! I am not saying airing an interview with Obama talking about Obamacare after a The Walking Dead or True Blood episode is going to generate the same success as The Voice, but it will capture some attention. However, I do not foresee the information obtained through the interview spreading as quickly without the internet. Without the internet, there will still be numerous ways to provide information; but there will be less effective ways to share the information.
With regards to the video; two words… absolutely hilarious!!