Analysis of Kony 2012 Campaign
Campaign: Kony 2012 http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc Short versions: http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=j36n8Kn_lUY http://www. youtube. com/watch? v=VWd0veKp1R0&hd=1 (this may be a stronger version) 1. Why we are choosing this one: This was a very successful campaign. Most of our group had heard about the Kony campaign and have shared with more than one friend; thus it was a successful viral marketing campaign. The statistics show that 112 million people viewed this video in one week. 2. The Message Targeted towards people who are obliged humanitarian causes.
Help create awareness of the campaign, which is to imprison Kony by December 2012 with the help of aid from foreign and Ugandan governments. To do this, they were selling products and promoting a “Cover the Night” day in which individuals who wear/post/display their products. The video tells you to make these purchases in order to help fight Kony, there are links to the website from the video and so the purpose of the campaign was very clear and relevant. The Messenger is Jason Russell who is the co-founder of Invisible Children.
The film’s purpose is to promote the charity’s “Stop Kony” movement to make Ugandan cult and militia leader Joseph Kony known to the international world in order to have him arrested by December 2012. Joseph Kony is already an indicted war criminal in the International Criminal Court. Environment – right time and right place. People are interested in this type of cause and it is popular to be a humanitarian right now. It was spread through YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. People feel good sharing this type of information; it makes the Sender feel as though they are helping a good ause and so they feel good. The result It was a triumph in that it has been viewed by more than 92 million people on YouTube and 20 million more on Vimeo, so well over 112 million people by the end of the first week. This is the same amount of people who watched the Super Bowl. (Visible Measures) After ten days, 52% of adults in the US had heard of the video. (PEW research center) More people viewed the video in such a short amount of time than any other video on the internet (to date). Kony 2012 facts and figures: http://static. guim. co. k/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/4/20/1334929057518/Kony-2012-in-facts-and-fi-009. jpg Invisible Children won’t yet say how much money it made from Kony 2012, but by conservative estimates, it has likely tripled its $13. 7 million 2011 revenue and it’s possible that the actual number is much, much higher. (http://www. businessweek. com/articles/2012-08-30/kony-2012-guerrilla-marketing) [Add details regarding how it was spread] Celebrities have helped spread the message (Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Oprah Winfrey) Why did it work?
The film discusses the desire to share, to be part of something, to inform others. Within the first two minutes, has drawn people in and makes them curious as to what is next. It was a very good quality video; both in resolution and the way it was directed. The director of the film, Jason Russell, is very personable. He is using people emotions to make them feel part of the problem. He even involves his own child in the film to make everyone feel that they are connected to this problem. People really want to feel like they are helping a good cause. It was also really the right moment.
The film uses everything that is popular right now to keep people’s attention – instagram photos, facebook timeline. People, especially young people and hipsters, really want to help. The products were not very expensive but enabled the viewer to feel as though they were part of the video and “creating history. ” The video emphasizes being part of, and making, history. Purchasing the products allowed for those who wanted to participate in Cover the Night to be part of the “in” group. Additionally, famous and important people became involved and vouched for it.
Many politicians and even celebrities became involved. What could have been improved? After the video there were allegations that the project was a scam. The Ugandan people were claiming that Kony was not even in Uganda and so contributing to this campaign will not help us. Also there was a rumor that the US wanted to have a reason to come into Uganda for oil. So they could have been their intentions more clear and probably clarified that even if Kony is currently not residing in Uganda, he still must be found and arrested.
