Weird Al Yankovic Knows Internet Marketing

Weird Al Yankovic pulled off a major feat in viral marketing when he released a video each day for eight straight days to launch his new album, "Mandatory Fun."

Here is a man who launched his career in the 70s and 80s and somehow broke through the clutter of the online marketplace to establish relevancy 40 years later. Businesses and brands everywhere can learn from Weird Al's success in Internet marketing.

Weird Al's parodies of Pharrell Williams "Happy," Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's "Sweet Judy Blue Eyes" and Lorde's "Royals" hit the Internet with force, and prove that an old dog can learn new tricks and make the transition from MTV to YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and the Internet of all Things. 

My personal favorite, as a grammar junkie, is Weird Al's parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," called "Word Crimes." 

3 Things Weird Al Yankovic Knows About Internet Marketing

1. Be Who You Are
Weird Al Yankovic didn't try to relaunch himself as someone different. In fact, he maintained many of the 80s fashions so familiar to those of us who were children when he first hit it big (the hair! the shirts!). Nor did he decide that what he really wanted to be was a "serious" singer and abandon his strength in parodies. Weird Al knows that his entire history is visible to us online, and a quick check of Wikipedia can tell us everything about him, from his hits and flops to his LASIK eye surgery. Instead of trying to change his image, he maximized his opportunity by reflecting his existing online profile rather than trying to reinvent it.

2. Stay Relevant
It might seem counter-intuitive to what I just wrote, but Weird Al did not get stuck in a time warp. On this album he does a great job of spreading his parodies across relevant songs and high-trending social topics. In doing so, he connected with a variety of people on the Internet. If he had only parodied current Billboard Top 5 songs, or chosen to only be the grammar police, he would have fallen flat. Instead, he offered variety of content that was relevant to a broad audience.



3. Get Professional Help
When we see a performer, it's common to attribute everything to the person on the stage (or in the video), but Weird Al Yankovic clearly knows how to get the right professional help. He might be the mastermind behind his parodies, but those videos weren't produced overnight. It took a team of producers, talent, writers, musicians and graphic artists to create the videos. And then, just as importantly, it took a team of digital marketers to create the marketing strategy and start the viral avalanche accompanying the release.

As someone who owned his first album, "'Weird Al' Yankovic in 3D," I already thought Weird Al was funny, but now that he has accomplished this latest feat, I'm deeply impressed with his business savvy as well.