Kmart’s new ad might just make you want to ship your pants laughing.

If you haven’t watched it yet, you should. The video centers around the phrase “ship my pants.” When spoken out loud, “ship my pants” sounds a whole lot like something else—go ahead, say it!—and the repetition of the line throughout the video is unexpectedly hilarious.

The video, posted online on April 10^th, already has garnered over 15 million views, 20,000 shares on Facebook, and nearly 40,000 comments.

The ad promotes Kmart’s Shop Your Way program, which allows customers to ship items they can’t find in store to their homes for free. The commercial starts off with a man being told about this new service, and his stunned reaction: “Ship my pants? Right here?”

An elderly shopper chimes in, “I just shipped my pants, and it’s very convenient.” Other customers mention that they have shipped their drawers, a nightgown, and even a bed.

It may be juvenile but, for me, the “potty-mouth” punch line just doesn’t get old. I literally have watched the 30 second video 5 times today.

But what can this video teach brands about marketing?

Sure, I love the ad because it makes me laugh like I’m 5-years-old again, but I also think it’s great from a marketing perspective. Let me break down a few of my takeaways:

Lesson 1: Give Them Something To Talk About

I’m going to throw it out there: Kmart is not cool.

I haven’t stepped foot in one in over a decade, so I don’t actually know anything about Kmart; I just assume it’s on the outs because I never hear people talk about it. This has been bad news for Kmart.

After watching this video though, I’m starting to wonder: What is Kmart like? I kind of want to go check it out this weekend and find out…

With retail giants like Walmart and Target taking over, Kmart seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. But I truly believe this ad could help put Kmart back on the map, because I know I’m not the only one loving it. So far this week, four of my friends have posted it on Facebook.

Sure, it was a risk on Kmart’s part—humor is difficult to achieve in advertising—but millions of people are laughing and sharing the video. And, more importantly, people are talking about Kmart again.

Lesson learned: Even the most irrelevant of brands can put themselves back on the radar with a hip campaign that gets people talking. Chances are a significant portion of these people will convert to customers.

Lesson 2: Haters Gonna Hate

Like I mentioned above, this ad was a risk for Kmart. Not just because humor isn’t easy in advertising, but also because…not everyone loves bathroom humor. In fact, One Millions Moms hates it.

Luckily for Kmart, One Million Moms is the name of the organization and not the actual number of moms in it. The group (which actually is only made up of a few thousand) wrote on their website last week that the ad is “disgusting” and “ridiculous” and “should be pulled off the air immediately.”

Can’t please everyone, right?

If you create a commercial with a risqué joke, some people will love it, some will be neutral, and others—like One Millions Moms—might be upset over it. But when you’re an increasingly unpopular brand, you’ve got to take a risk and do something different to get noticed.

Lesson learned: In the end, haters are going to hate. I think it’s better for Kmart to attract the attention of millions even if they have to risk that they may anger a few thousand.  As they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity…

(Side note: In some cases, I think some publicity really is bad publicity. Like this example. Or this.)

Lesson 3: Social Goes A Long Way

Not only did Kmart create the “Ship My Pants” video, but they also began Tweeting #ShipMyPants and the hashtag flew around Twitter. Conversations ensued:

I love that Kmart created a hashtag campaign around this too. Again, it’s getting people talking about their store…and it’s funny!

Kmart also impressed me with their social media etiquette. Upon seeing this video, I tweeted at Kmart this morning:

Almost immediately they replied:

You’d be surprised by how many brands are on Twitter and don’t reply when people mention them. Kmart did, and Kmart did it quickly. I know I’m probably biased because I work with social media, but I really do look at Kmart in a whole new way now because of this.

Lesson learned: Use Kmart as an example of social media marketing done right. Creating a clever hashtag around a marketing campaign can lead to positive conversations about your brand—and engaging with and thanking people online can boost your brand’s image.

What do you think? Do you think this campaign goes over the line? Or do you find the commercial just as funny as I do?