The Borat Buzz

The movie Borat won the box office this past weekend – showing on less than one-quarter the screens as the #2 movie (The Santa Clause 3). For those that don’t know who Borat is – he is the creation of British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. Borat is a ‘journalist’ from Kazakhstan and his mockumentary highlights America’s foibles.

I admit that I have not yet seen the movie (though I have eagerly awaited its release and will see it soon). This post isn’t about the movie – it’s about the buzz and traditional media’s inability to know what it has on its hands.

Despite all of the buzz leading up to it, Hollywood didn’t know what it had. 20th Century Fox limited its release because, “Awareness was tracking soft elsewhere (with people unfamiliar with Cohen’s HBO show).”

Anyone interested in creating effective buzz would do well to review the story of how comedian Cohen has brought the character to life. Here are some of the lessons I take from it:

- The product is good. Unlike the movie Snakes on a Plane, Borat has gotten outstanding reviews from critics across the board. Borat started getting buzz at The Cannes Film Festival, and stole the show at the Toronto Film Festival.

- Cohen made a big promise. The build up to the movie (or 'movie-film' as Borat would say) made the movie seem outrageous. Whether it was Cohen’s mock press conference in front of the Kazakhstan embassy when the premier of Kazakhstan was visiting with George Bush, or the outtakes you could get on YouTube – it was clear that Borat was no ordinary film.

- Cohen delivered on his promise.

- Borat started small and grew – never biting off more than it could chew. The character Borat started off as a sketch character Cohen created for the British comedy Da Ali G Show.

- Borat maintained its purity. In the spirit of Andy Kaufman, Cohen has an uncanny ability to stay in character. Whether he is being interviewed on The Today Show or Jay Leno, or when he was taking breaks on the set, Cohen never breaks character. This allows the audience to ‘buy-in’ to the experience – knowing that they will not be made of a fool of. It is my opinion that this lack of purity doomed ‘experiences’ like Rain Forest Café, Planet Hollywood, and other mock-experiences.

I can’t promise you’ll like Borat. I can promise that what you learn from it will help you grow.