Stop at nothing, indeed

78 million views on Youtube, 16 million on Vimeo.

All in under a couple of weeks.

Yes, that’s inarguable, staggering social media success, numbers that seem Joe Dimaggio-like in their untouchability.

How did Kony 2012 do it? Many different explanations have been given—with sporadic interruptions by various haters villifying the effort—and perhaps the most thorough came from the forward thinking Sean X Cummings. A lot of provocative food for thought.

Credibility aside, though, the best explanation may have come from Oscar Wilde, who insightfully told us that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

Any politician, musician, artist or actor could tell you that any kind of fame is better than none at all.

And ironically enough, it’s exactly what Kony 2012 set out to do from the start. So that’s the one single lesson I’d suggest you take away: get your client famous, however, wherever, whenever.

Stop at nothing, indeed.

Or to put a finer point on it, consider this adaptation of Wilde’s famous admonition, from Brendan Behan, the “drinker with a writing problem:”

There's no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary.