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Last week, Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz tweeted about a weird catalog cover and got over 2K replies.

It was print marketing gone viral — without a QR code in sight. And despite Lorenz's criticism, it worked for Parachute. Let’s dive into three lessons we gleaned from print’s viral moment.

“Chaotic marketing” gets people talking. 

The Parachute catalog struck brand consultant Michael Miraflor as part of a shift toward “chaos” in marketing. 

Think, Sweetgreen ads, which feature a person eating a salad on an open copy machine, or Mejuri’s content, which pictures jewelry floating in Lucky Charms. 

Social listening tools help brands act quickly.

Parachute immediately responded to Lorenz, and even offered her “some goodies.” But Lorenz’s original tweet didn’t tag the company.

Social listening was probably the secret sauce, MarketerHire’s organic social lead, Ivory Bandoh, said. These tools can find content “even if you're not directly tagged in anything.”

Cross-promotion doesn’t always work. 

In the brand’s first reply to Lorenz, Parachute tagged Dyson. But the reply felt artificial, at best, and reminded some of Dyson’s controversies. 

Eventually, Parachute apologized for tweeting before researching. 

Our takeaway?

A slightly unsettling image paired with a responsive social media team is sometimes all it takes to make print marketing go viral — and make it trackable.