[Sean Cash]

If they apply it properly, this is totally a growth hack. There're about 5 -7 steps they need to do correctly. It's not about just saying we do business with Kevin O'Leary. They have to be more subtle and see themselves the way the customer will see it, then re-broadcast that message back to them.

They don't have to say anything. Kevin O'Leary is advertising for them:

kol.jpg

More than 40,000 businesses apply to be on Shark Tank and the show gets nearly 7 million viewers per episode. Look up Kevin O'Leary and you find IOU Central's name right there...

This will generate thousands of leads a week.

[Franklin]

They don't have to say anything. Kevin O'Leary is advertising for them:

More than 40,000 businesses apply to be on Shark Tank and the show gets nearly 7 million viewers per episode. Look up Kevin O'Leary and you find IOU Central's name right there...

This will generate thousands of leads a week.

ABC receiving 40,000 businesses is a little different from Kevin himself receiving that, as he's not involved in casting. It will take a little more work from IOU then simply posting his face on the site.

Just going by the numbers, it takes 7 million eyeballs to generate 40,000 leads, which converts to about half of one percent, which is close to normal direct marketing conversion when advertising to a wide, generic base (1/3 of 1 percent is typical). And the show has multiple episodes, plus re-runs, syndication, and youtube, so it's a lot of exposure, not just one look, that's generating 40k in apps.

My question is, what is the traffic volume Kevin receives to his website? A keyword search for shark" tank" yield's about 220,000+ in monthly searches, but over 95% of that is related to watching the show, less than 3% of that is related to being cast on the show. Google Kevin O'Leary and it's under 7000 mthly searches, again, most regarding his status on the show, not working with him.

Now having Kevin's face on the site will improve the stickiness and lower the bounce rate on their site, which helps greatly as people want to affiliate with other known celebrities and successful people. Also, many of those 40K apps are start ups and people watching shark tank in their bedroom, and then deciding to put down their bowl a cereal, pull up their underwear, and give the show a call to get a million dollars to fund their refrigerator sleeping bags that redistribute heat while you sleep, so you can camp on the bathroom floor and it feels like you're in the woods.


IOU needs to implement a smart strategy to leverage the face recognition Kevin provides or they won't maximize the asset they have, the way Total Merchant didn't.

[Sean Cash]

touché

[JayBallentine]

They don't have to say anything. Kevin O'Leary is advertising for them:

kol.jpg

More than 40,000 businesses apply to be on Shark Tank and the show gets nearly 7 million viewers per episode. Look up Kevin O'Leary and you find IOU Central's name right there...

This will generate thousands of leads a week.

Your position was different from mine about the last guys... Not turning out to be so good for those guys... Want to place a friendly lunch wager on this one?

We'll see how this one pans out. This dude is a shark though. Have you ever seen him go easy on anyone on the show? Anyone ever get a "great deal" out of this guy? Does the IOU rate structure support this? If you're WBL, this makes sense everyday and 1,000 times on Sunday... but IOU?

How much will it cost them to process bad (startup) leads? What's the process for processing what will be mostly bad (startup) leads? How many humans involved? How are they paid? Can they use leads, both good and bad to get some semblance of a K-Factor? So many questions...

I'm yet to see any company get really big on the back of a celeb endorsement... I've seen endorsers who were not big become celebs (Dave Thomas, Ronald McDonald, Jared from Subway, etc.)...

[Franklin]

Your position was different from mine about the last guys... Not turning out to be so good for those guys... Want to place a friendly lunch wager on this one?

We'll see how this one pans out. This dude is a shark though. Have you ever seen him go easy on anyone on the show? Anyone ever get a "great deal" out of this guy? Does the IOU rate structure support this? If you're WBL, this makes sense everyday and 1,000 times on Sunday... but IOU?

How much will it cost them to process bad (startup) leads? What's the process for processing what will be mostly bad (startup) leads? How many humans involved? How are they paid? Can they use leads, both good and bad to get some semblance of a K-Factor? So many questions...

I'm yet to see any company get really big on the back of a celeb endorsement... I've seen endorsers who were not big become celebs (Dave Thomas, Ronald McDonald, Jared from Subway, etc.)...

Last guys weren't marketers, and Kevin is a Shark, not a marketer either. You can easily funnel out the bad start up leads in a way that doesn't tie up or cost human capital. And if IOU is aligned properly, they'll be able to monetize a large percentage of those leads, and this case, having Kevin would help that.

Nike - Michael Jordan
Apple (iPod) - U2
FUBU - LL Cool J
OPI Products - Serena Williams
Tommy Hilfiger - Grand Puba (from Brand Nubian, and was not compensated).
Numerous NY Times Bestsellers - Oprah - Oprah book club


All of these companies/people increased sales/usage using these celebrities to endorse. Any book Oprah reviews positively goes on NY times best seller. But agreed, 90%+ of celebrity endorsements cannot be linked to an increase in sales and usually result in a waste of money. Much better to align yourself with a partner who compliments your weaknesses and build a relationship where you both stand to gain.