Over the last 90 days, Ms. Johansson has cleared “50” in search intensity on three occasions: when a break in the nude photo scandal was announced, when the hacker apologized for his actions, and when she actually defended the nude photos. Since then, Scarlett’s search buzz has dipped below 20 and hovers between 12 and 18 as of this writing.
In fact, the nude photo scandal was the only time in Scarlett’s career her search intensity numbers hit 100; the best performance before 2011 was in 2010, when Iron Man 2, and her amazing performance in it. (And given the reaction, it’s fair to forecast similar search reactions for Ms. Johansson after The Avengers is released in 2012.)
What this proves should come as no surprise: any web content with the word “sex” or anything related to sex like “nude” as in the case of the nude photo scandal is a guaranteed push-button click reaction. Again, according to Google Insight for Search, web search interest in anything with the keyword “sex” has hovered between a high of 100 and a low of 82 for 2011, and between a high of 100 (as a note, the highest level) and a low of 62, and that low was achieved at the start of rankings from Google Insight For Search, and has never dipped below that, or dropped to that point again since the Google program started.
So with this, the obvious question becomes “Can one game this reaction for the purpose of marketing an individual?” and the answer is “yes.” But that said, this is not the space where this blogger’s going to show you how to do that.
But the point must be made: it’s not only very doable, but no PR firm or Internet Marketing firm has yet consistently used this fact to build a successful approach.
Of course, this leads to a question of what is in good taste, but it’s possible to launch such an effort within the bounds of good taste. Again, this space isn’t to show how to do that, only to say that it can be done.
But the fact that it can be done is what led me to think the Scarlett Johansson case was faked. I understand that it’s not, and if Scarlett’s reading this, I am sorry, but given what I wrote I trust many will see that we live in a World where people must question what they’re told and the news that’s presented to them, before they accept it.
Otherwise, we would believe such things as Jon Bon Jovi’s death, when he’s alive and well.
Stay tuned.
Bill Carroll