Viral Marketing at Its Best

An uplifting story has been running rampant on the internet and in the media. It involves bullies, pink shirts, and e-mail. The rest is history.

Everyday people, supporting a great cause, using an efficient medium can spread a message a long way in short time.

Shocking Soccer Support by Some Sassy SoB's

Talk about consumers driving the market, necessity being the mother of invention, and audacious viral marketing campaigns taking foot... you ain't seen nothing until you've seen the perfect storm of all three whipped up by the "Sons of Ben," or SoB's, if you will.

The Philadelphia-based organization are rabid fans of Major League Soccer and are so fanatical they've even attracted the attention of Sports Illustrated. And like all good fans, a large contingent can be seen loudly supporting their team at every away match. Well, they're all away matches. Why? 'Cause they don't actually, have a team in Philly.

Gotta give these guys credit. Jerry Seinfeld famously quipped that with the frequent team-changes that professional athletes make, when you get right down to it, fans are "mostly rooting for laundry." This phantom Philadelphia team doesn't even have laundry. Mostly just hot air, I suppose.

But hey, I'm on the side of the SoB's. Maybe a Philly-based MLS team would actually win some championships, unlike our other local squads...

But I digress.

The marketing lesson in this story? Create a groundswell by rounding up your biggest fans and let them spread the word for you. But it definitely helps if you have something to sell first.