December 2023. Murder on the Dancefloor<\/i> is back in the charts and social media is blowing up with reaction videos to scenes from Saltburn<\/i>. The film wasn\u2019t for me but there\u2019s no question it had a huge cultural impact.<\/p>\n
Even now, several months after it went viral, the impact is still being felt. Drayton House was the impressive Grade I-listed manor used as the location, a property with an equally impressive history of execution, lovers, and illegitimate royalty (the architecture is also stunning).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But, since the release of the film, the estate has been pestered by trespassers desperate to see the building at first hand and even to film themselves dancing to Sophie Ellis-Bextor\u2019s hit outside the front doors. The interest is real and people are drawn to both the area and the architecture, but it is also unwanted and unplanned.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In this way, the Saltburn Effect is the opposite of the Bilbao Effect. Bilbao\u2019s Guggenheim Museum took a huge risk with public money but had a plan to create a new iconic piece of architecture that would be talked about around the world.<\/p>\n The results are well known and well documented \u2013 and, thankfully, a huge success story for Bilbao. One study puts the city\u2019s earnings from the 700,000 increase in visitors to the museum at almost $40 million annually. This was an immensely successful planned piece of architectural viral marketing, creating an income stream for the client and pushing the status of Frank Gehry into the mainstream, capping it off with an appearance on The Simpsons<\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n More widely, architecture \u2013 from Sydney Opera House, to the Centre Pompidou, to the Shard \u2013has consistently been successful as part of viral marketing that can elevate clients, architects, and cities.<\/p>\n Making something viral is difficult, though, and the results unpredictable. Viral marketing has been called \u2018electronic word of mouth\u2019. Essentially it turns general members of the public into personal endorsers. The benefit is free promotion, increased visibility in new networks and, potentially, new opportunities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n