Podcast: Exploding Kittens and viral marketing

What’s the secret to viral marketing? A giant eight-foot tall fuzzy vending machine? A bedazzled melon? A hot tub full of Batmans? Maybe all of the above…

Exploding Kittens creator and CEO Elan Lee and game designer Eric Lang talk about their quirky card game’s journey from an unknown Kickstarter to sell-out success, and tell us how not following traditional marketing rules paid off.

Marketing campaigns can be a successful shot in the dark or a misfired attempt to replicate previously famous campaigns. But when viral works, boy does it work.

That’s something Elan and Eric learned from their experience marketing their unusual card game at games conventions as well as on Kickstarter.

The secret to their success has been, as they put it, a result of cultivating surprise and joy – not only for their audience, but also for themselves. A case in point is the giant furry vending machine they exhibited at several conventions.

The machine dispensed random items while, in the background, staff were busy creating weird and wonderful gifts for the hordes of curious attendees.

When someone dressed as Game of Thrones’ Daenerys Targaryen got in line, they swiftly bedazzled a watermelon, creating a magic moment for Exploding Kittens fans that soon went viral online.

Exploding Kittens CEO Elan Lee and game designer Eric Lang were on the creatiff stage at Collision 2022.

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Main image: Lukas Schulze/Web Summit (CC BY 2.0)