Here’s a quick little video about why I don’t rank first for my name in Google. (Yet, anyway.) Follow the link at the end to create your own search video!

Every so often you come across one of those strokes of brilliance that makes you ask the really important questions: Is there another way of doing things? Is everything I know about XYZ-topic completely wrong? Why aren’t we all doing this? (And, of course, why didn’t I think of that?)

Recently I came across one such idea. HubSpot, thought leaders extraordinaires in the inbound marketing realm, recently became the first B2B business ever to launch an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) to promote their products.

The premise is simple: HubSpot invented a company, Kronus Media, and told all of their followers that Kronus had issued a Cease & Desist order that forced HubSpot to shut down inboundmarketing.com, their thought leadership arm. The same day, HubSpot launched a Ning network — captaininbound.ning.com — dedicated to solving the mystery behind the evil Kronus Media and their motivations, and eventually to get inboundmarketing.com back up and running. To solve the mystery, the proprietor of the network (who goes by the name “Captain Inbound” to protect him/herself from violating a non-disclosure agreement) points out “clues” left on HubSpot’s various social media sites and asks people for help figuring out what they might mean.

Here’s why this is brilliant:

1. It’s instantly engaging. The Inbound Marketing University is shut down?! How could they do something like that?!
2. It requires subscription. Part of the fun of the game is discovering clues. Where are these clues? On HubSpot’s Facebook page, in their Twitter updates, on their blog, etc. In order to find these clues, you have to be actively monitoring HubSpot’s social media accounts.
3. It promotes followers. There is tremendous incentive to be an active part of a game like this for several reasons. First, it’s reasonably high-profile, which means that there are lots of eyeballs scanning your content. Second, participating in — never mind winning — the game gives you a chance to show off your analytical skills. And third, it levels the playing field for exposure. Anyone can find a clue, anyone can solve a riddle, and anyone can win the game. So why wouldn’t you participate?
4. It promotes an ideology. The very nature of this game is to pit those people interested in the Inbound Marketing University — who are, for the most part, modern and forward-thinking marketers — against Kronus Media, a company that represents the exact ideology against which Inbound Marketing rebels. The success of HubSpot as a company revolves around their ability to make people understand that this dichotomy exists, and that HubSpot’s side is the side to be on. This game helps to reinforce that idea.
5. It creates a positive sentiment. I don’t know what this game will do to drive business for HubSpot — I’m thinking it won’t drive much, but that’s me being skeptical. To be honest, though, I don’t know that HubSpot is thinking about this game in terms of ROI. Any return that they’ll get from this game will be entirely metaphysical in nature. There is an unspoken value in the number of times someone says, “Hey, did you hear about that cool game that HubSpot’s running?” To have the words “cool” and “HubSpot” in the same sentence, multiplied by a couple of thousand, adds up to the kind of achievement that they probably couldn’t have accomplished otherwise.
6. It happens in a natural environment. HubSpot isn’t asking you log into some third-party website to access the game. You don’t have to download anything, you’re not using some kind of game widget. You’re doing things that you were probably already doing: interacting with HubSpot on their blog and on Twitter and Facebook. You already do that (or if you don’t, it’s really easy to start doing it). So there’s no barrier to entry.

There are a lot of people who were upset about the way HubSpot launched the game. I’d like to address some of those concerns on Monday, if you’ll give me the weekend. In the mean time, tell me what you think about www.captaininbound.com — A cool game or a spectacular failure?

Friends, a moment of your time, if I may.

The Inbound Marketing University is under attack, and they need our help to save it. How can you do this? By joining the CIA:

Captain Inbound Agency – Welcome to the CIA…

Join the ranks! Save the IMU! For Inbound!

Full disclosure: the IMU isn’t really in trouble. They’re launching what they call an Alternate Reality Game, or ARG. (Pirate jokes welcomed.) The reason I posted it here is because I think IMU is a valuable source of marketing theory, and it’s highly underused. And, as always, I have no vested interest in providing this link. I just think it’ll be fun.

Chris Brogan posted a question on Twitter (as he so frequently does) that garnered a lot of attention (as they so frequently do). He asked if anyone liked 99designs, and a couple of designers thumbed their digital noses at it.

In case you’re unfamiliar, 99designs is a place where you can launch an online contest to make designers compete against each other for a monetary prize you agree to supply. And for the record, I’m not a designer. I’m a converted journalist. So why am I commenting? Don’t worry: everything will become clear in a minute.

I can see the objection here, though I don’t agree with it. It comes from the concept of doing work “on spec”. For those not in the know, writing an article “on spec” means you’re agreeing to do work without the promise of being paid for it. Usually you are asked to do this kind of work only when you’re just starting out, as an editor has no way of knowing that you’ll produce quality work.

It’s not an ideal agreement for the content producer, but it does serve to protect the interests of the publication. Freelancers don’t like this kind of work, because there’s a chance they could be wasting their time researching and writing an article that an editor won’t subjectively “like”.

Of course, as a freelancer, there’s nothing that says you have to take this kind of work.

Still, there’s a prevailing attitude that publications that request this kind of work from authors are somehow damaging the industry. There’s no way of me knowing for sure, but I’m guessing that this is true of designers, as well. Yes, the creative work that journalists and designers do is worthy of payment. Yes, if you want a designer to do work for you, you should do your research and pick one that does good work.

But if you’re not looking for ultra-high quality work — or if you’re looking to give an upstart creative a break — what is wrong with running a contest? In the first place, 99designs lets designers pick the level of reward they would like to submit for, so designers who think their work is worth more are free to submit for higher-paying gigs. In the second place, as I mentioned before, this isn’t the only way for designers to get work. Freelancers are, by definition, free to pursue only those jobs that they want.

I hated doing work on spec. It was nerve-wracking waiting for that email that said I was going to get a paycheck for all the work I did. But if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have built up my portfolio to the point where I could begin a career in journalism. (And then subsequently abandon it for a career in marketing, which I much prefer.)

Is “on spec” work a necessary evil? Do contests rob other designers of opportunities? Or is this a case of may-the-best-man-win? You decide.

UPDATE: An awesome conversation about this topic is happening over on Chris Brogan’s blog right now. Go be a part of it!