Zombies and Marketing: How to Make Use of the Walking Dead to Boost Business

Zombies are hot. Vampires and werewolves are yesterday’s news. If you’re a marketer, or own a consumer business, you may not be giving a lot of thought to zombies.

THIS MAY BE A HUGE MISTAKE.

Westlake Ace Hardware stores in Omaha has brilliantly optioned zombies to help boost sales, offering a Zombie Preparedness Center.

The Centers for Disease Control, let’s face it — not an organization known for its sense of humor — has formed a Zombie Task Force, as a vehicle for education on crisis response and preparedness as well as bioterrorism.

Danger. Zombies. Run! Is a 5K event taking place in Charlottesville (and other versions of it happen in cities all over the country) mixing the zombie craze with fitness. Not to be outdone, our local ice park is hosting Danger. Zombies. On Ice. 

Could you be using zombies in your marketing efforts? How? Here are some ideas:

• Create a news release announcing your preparedness plan for the zombie apocalypse;
• Design a service for zombies-only (dry cleaners? hair salons?) and announce special offers for the undead;
• Own a shoe store? What are the best shoes to outrun a zombie in? Or, if you’re a member of the walking dead, what shoes will hold up to your tireless trudging in search of people to eat?
• If you have a restaurant, consider a special zombie menu featuring brains; and
• Hire a few zombies to entertain customers (or scare them to death) —  not recommended if your customers are primarily children.

Don’t wait — the zombie timeline runs from now till Halloween, otherwise the trend may be, well, dead.