Let’s talk about Corn Kid…
You probably heard about Corn Kid last fall when a video called “CEO of Corn” was uploaded to the YouTube channel Recess Therapy. The video quickly racked up millions of views.
As did the Gregory Brothers’ songified version
The videos are adorable, funny, and absolutely will warm the chilliest of hearts. As someone who studies the digital world, I find this fascinating. But as a marketer, I’m fascinated by what happened in the weeks and months following the viral hit. I’m fascinated by the clever ways that brands, with limited effort and limited funds, took advantage of a unique and impossible to predict cultural moment.
The popular corn video was posted in August of 2022, and before the month was over, Chipotle had filmed and posted a short video with Tariq excited to add corn to his Chipotle order. To be honest, the video isn’t that special or funny (especially compared to the original video and the songified version). It looks low budget. The filming looks low tech. The scripts are pretty basic. But all that said, it was Chipotle’s most popular social post of the year.
A fantastic example of a brand letting the power and attention of a cultural moment do all the heavy lifting. An example of how sometimes, timing and quick reactions are the most important elements to successful marketing.
And it’s not just big brands and consumer facing marketers who can leverage something like Corn Kid. Which brings us to the South Dakota Department of Agriculture. If you’re like me, you might not have known that South Dakota is one of the nation’s top producers of corn. Well in early September, a few weeks after the original video was posted, South Dakota’s governor named Tariq the official “Corn-bassador” of South Dakota.
What does a Corn-bassador do? Beats me… What’s the benefit to South Dakota’s agriculture industry? Well that’s awfully hard to quantify as an outside observer, but I think the answer to that question is evident when we answer two other questions- how did I know that Tariq was the official Corn-bassador of South Dakota and how did I know South Dakota was a major corn producer? I know because I read about…
I read about it in this article from the Washington Post
And again here on NPR.org
And then again on Yahoo Finance
Not to mention this article from People.com
Or when it was covered by The Hill
Just about every major media outlet and every major morning show now only talked about Tariq, but specifically talked about South Dakota and their connection to corn. Not a bad round of PR for the South Dakota Department of Agriculture, who I’m guessing doesn’t usually get a lot of coverage from the Steve Harvey Morning Show.
I’ve spoken about this and written about this before, and I’ll speak about it and write about it again. Being proactive (predicting the next big trend/meme/fad) is essentially impossible. It’s a fool's errand. But paying close attention to what people are paying attention to is easy. Catching a trend in real time is easy. Reacting with a cheap Tik Tok video or by making up a fake ambassador title is easy. And the impact can be huge.