The Hoff on Number 1?

Some time ago I posted about Gnarls Barkley conquering the world from a MySpace page.  These days David Hasselhoff is having a go at it ... or better, his fans.  On www.gethasselhofftonumber1.com they are trying to convince enough people to purchase a Hoff single on iTunes to bring our Knight Rider to the Top of the UK hitparade.  I'm curious to see where it goes.  Meanwhile, make sure to check out this video by "The Hoff".

A Case Study in Word-of-Mouth

Can you conquer the world from a MySpace page?  Looking at what the virtual music band Gnarls Barkley has been pulling off over the past six weeks, you would definitely think so.  Brainchild of Gorrillaz producer Brian Burton (aka. Danger Mouse), on April 2nd, this new band landed the first song in history to lead the British hitparade based on download sales only.

All buzz has purely happened online using as main hubs the official MySpace profile for Gnarls Barkley now complemented with a Gnarls Barkley website (sometimes down for traffic overload).  Until April 3rd, the day after it hit #1 in the UK, their hit single “Crazy” wasn’t even available on CD.

Whether you like their music or not is a matter of taste, yet as far as case studies in word-of-mouth marketing go, this jazzy band is certainly prime material.