I’ve spent the past week in bed with Swine Flu, which incited a lot of jokes from others, made me feel like a leper, provoked anger at the CDC for hyping up something lamer than the tonsillitis I had in January, caused me to rethink my life, fueled my quarter-life crisis and finally led to wondering how I could turn a bad event into a blog post. Here is what I have come up with – “Swine Flu – The Best PR Campaign (since the last pandemic).”

Swine Flu has all the makings of a great campaign. Let me unpack that statement for you.

1. Excessive hype (specialized Web sites, Twitter accounts, Web pages, ect.)
2. Its own branding. You know you’ve made it big time when you get branded in the rash and publicized form of your own vaccine (read Barbie doll, playing cards, etc.)
3. Made a competitor (read another industry) angry since it was doing so well (note I’m still calling it Swine Flu because H1N1 is much less threatening)
4. Clear goal, strategy and tactics (thank you Bill Handy from OkState)
   1. Goal
      1. Raise awareness about H1N1
   2. Strategy
      1. Scare world
   3. Tactics
      1. Report deaths in dot form on world map
      2. Rename Swine Flu
      3. Hold press conferences ad hoc
      4. Get media to publish several stories weekly
      5. Create special CDC Web pages
      6. Have thought leaders (i.e. me) create rogue Web pages about H1N1
      7. Make Swine Flu “victims” feel like lepers
         1. Report all cases to HR at businesses
         2. Have people walk around with paint masks on
      8. Deplete stores of Tamiflu right before regular flu season
5. Measurable results to use for ROI at the end of campaign (see dot map reference)
6. Get government involved on an international basis

Now I could go on, but I’ll stop my sarcasm right here. Now this would not be a good campaign if I did not tell you my lessons learned:

1. Cover your mouth when coughing
2. Wash your hands obsessively
3. Make your co-workers feel like they cannot ride in an elevator with you
4. Avoid planes for business travel at all costs

Happy flu season!

*Note: I decided this was more PR than marketing. My apologies.