I’m trying to be really patient and not post what I wrote for Project 100. I think it will last all of one more day. Anyway, one subject I touched on in the article was, “more is garnered from ‘sharing’ than ‘searching’”. Since I only had 400 words and I was going in a slightly different direction, I didn’t have time to expand. But, I do now.

And, what better day to expand than today? I couldn’t ask for a more perfect example than what happened over the weekend. If I had been ‘searching’, I never would have stumbled over the FABULOUS Motrin ad. I currently don’t have a headache, back pain or PMS, so no need for Motrin and hence no need to search nor visit their site. However, I was ‘sharing’ this weekend and so were many others. And boy, did all the sharing suck you in, even if you didn’t want to be. While I DO NOT agree with the sentiment that was shared, it was so powerful that Motrin rescinded the ad. Not only did they take down the ad, but they also put an apology note on the homepage of their website and reached out to the noisiest Mommies individually. I’m sure someone can come up with an example, but I can’t remember the last time that search alone forced a brand to pull an entire advertising campaign.

So why did this situation get so much traction? Well, that’s a post for another day.

The semi-exciting part? A lot of people finally understand that a lot more can be garnered from ‘sharing’ than they originally thought. Now, there’s a tangible example that C-Level Executives can potentially grasp.

And yes, as much as it will pain me and all of us, this example will be used ad nauseum in the months to come just like the Obama campaign.

PS – For the record, I LOVE the ad. In fact, I’ve never bought Motrin before, but I’m going to now… just to piss off all the Mommy Bloggers