What Makes A Viral Campaign Interesting?

I read an older article (2006) today on O’Reilly Radar about Web 2.0. If you’ve kept up with the online trends, then you know that this isn’t news, but there was an idea in particular that stood out and still seems to be key when it comes to using Web 2.0 for your company’s advantage. Consumers now not only want to get product or service information from a company’s website, but they also want to be able to discuss it among themselves, and get information from others who have experienced that product or service.

So, with all this said, the key to Web 2.0 success for companies is to get people talking about the product more than the company does. By starting forums, blogs, and social networking, companies can achieve that state of popularity or new age of advertising. For example, Audi recently engaged in an “alternate reality branding” campaign for its new A3 by staging a car theft scene from a dealership in New York. People were very intrigued by these events and started talking about it, blogging about it, posting videos, and other user-generated media. Turned out, that Audi managed to attract campaign zealous followers who would even show up at the dealership and post up flyers to help recover the stolen car and waited eagerly for updates on the thickening plot.

How do companies garner consumer interest in their campaign? Through relevancy. People are tired of irrelevant ads being bombarded at them from every direction; instead, now, with the availability of viral media, companies need to think of creative ways to position themselves in this new culture of online communities and retain interest while building communities. Check out Clickz.com, Suite101.com, and Goecart.com to get some ideas on how to keep a viral marketing campaign relevant and interesting.

What do Viral Marketing and Passing Gas Have in Common?

With the expansion of online social networking media, marketers now have another highly useful channel to utilize for spreading the word about their campaign. With the emergence of these channels, and now that the Internet is available to over 760 million people worldwide, viral marketing has had astonishing effects for pushing products, goods, services, and raise awareness. Recent studies show that 58% of the US population uses the Internet as a primary source to get information. This percentage is the highest among other traditional sources of information such as professional advisors, newspapers and magazines. Therefore, marketers have a great advantage when it comes to exploiting the Internet, because of its long reach. As far as viral marketing goes, the Internet is a gold mine for targeting specific niche audiences; even the fickle Gen-Yers, especially now with all the social networking sites available. With use of the Internet, viral marketing can take on many faces and use many themes to spread the word.
I was browsing through YouTube today and I came across what I thought was an excellent viral marketing commercial for Troegs Beer. Troegs Beer is a microbrewery from Harrisburg Pennsylvania that is run and crafted by two brothers. Considering that micro-breweries do not have the financial muscle or the audience to compete with behemoth breweries like Anhueser Busch or Coors, viral marketing is great way to go to reach the crowds that enjoy exclusivity as well as specialty products. This is nice, but what I really enjoyed about their commercial is that it was simple, and had a specific target: men or men who love beer. The commercial displayed a beautiful model in a yellow bikini describing the great taste and array of products; meanwhile she’s belching and farting. The use of potty humor has given this specific video on YouTube an excellent rating, over half a million views and many comments. After I watched that commercial, I started noticing that there were many food and drink commercials that utilized potty humor; and my best guess is that it’s entertaining, and in a gross way, authentic. There were several videos about girls passing gas in general; this must be a new trend.

What does all this mean? It means that with viral marketing, a marketer can maximize the use of that specific channel to an audience by being specific; and letting people with similar interests spread the word. With the expanding numbers of bloggers and the millions of members involved with social networks; the possibilities are endless, no matter how stinky.

We Didn't Start the Viral

Have you ever hit a brick wall when thinking about how to make your project go viral? The video below may just be what the doctor ordered for that nasty bump the wall probably left on your head!

The guys over at cakke.com pulled inspiration from Billy Joel to create the video below which covers all types of viral successes from the last few years or so.

While you're watching, it would be smart to think about the unique properties of each that drove them into infamy and how you might be able to apply them to your next viral campaign.

Enjoy!

Go Viral by Secret!

Sometimes, the best way to spread news is to tell a secret. You just need to know exactly who to tell the secret to.

Back in the grade school days, if you wanted to spread something, you'd tell that secret to a certain blabber-mouth friend that was a source of gossip and information for the entire class (or grade, or even school if you found the right person). The secret could be out quicker than if you outright told everyone yourself.

Why does it work? Everyone loves the secrecy and level of exclusivity of being a part of the secret, and even when the exclusivity has gone out the window, no one wants to be the last to know.

So, how can this be applied in internet marketing?

First, you have to identify the right group to start the message with. Following standard diffusion theory, you'd want to identify valuable groups like opinion leaders and mavens (those who go the extra mile to get the ball rolling for new products by helping others).

What if your product isn't new? This concept will be just as effective if it is not - because the target just has to perceive it as a new concept - it just has to be new to them.

Once you have identified the group, the message must be transmitted in a way so that the recipient sees value in sharing it with their online friends. The value can be monetary, such as a high amount of savings, convenience, or just plain fun. And mixing those concepts couldn't hurt either.

In addition, for the concept of secrecy to work, creative and effective copyrighting is a must. The following example is from the email that was sent by one of the best and most consistent copy writers of our time, Woot.com.


Sales of Microsoft's Zune MP3 player have been dwindling for various reasons including the release of Apple's new line of iPods. In addition, a new version of the product planned for release soon, so previous revisions of the product are collecting dust in warehouses. Woot.com saw an opportunity to take these players and sell them at discount rates to its customers, but to exhaust their supply, they had to get creative.


They started by offering the Zune at a discount price on their site, the price later dropped, and they issued a coupon to previous buyers for a future purchase. This unnecessary, but thoughtful step started a relationship with the Zune crowd that they had started to collect.

After waves of sales on the units, it is obvious that they still had not been completely tapped out. In a genius move by one of their marketers, they decided to reach out directly to their Zune crowd. They offered refurbished units at their lowest price ever and sent an exclusive email out only to those who had already bought a Zune from them. Excerpts from the email are below:

"..shhh... don't tell anyone! We have a limited quantity of official factory-refurbished black Zunes (now aka Zune 30's) to offer effective immediately. Our elite strikeforce of pirate-tongued, ninja-trained negotiation commandos worked their powers of persuasion to obtain every single official factory-refurb Zune 30. No, no blackmail, extortion, or coercion was involved (as far as we know). The point is, you won't see these anywhere else."

"Sneak a friend or two in if you want - this is indeed an exciting chance to join the Zune in-crowd..."

Did it work? I'm typing about it now, aren't I?

In the midst of a hard day's work, a friend gave me a call to tell me about it. I hadn't been interested in the previous iterations of the deal, but when he described the "secret" aspect, I must admit that my interest rose.

I am on the fence now, but that is a fence that I wouldn't be on without the promotion. I've even contacted others to converse about the deal since. Will they generate one or more sales from the original email sent to my friend? Surely.

And then there's this guy. According to pageviews, he told over 10,000 of his friends! I do believe it's safe to say quite a few sales were generated there.

Halo 3: When to Jump on the Viral Bandwagon

One might expect a video game company to beg a huge corporate-sponsored chain like 7-Eleven or Burger King to support its title. However, as AdAge points out, they and others have spent millions to jump on the Halo 3 gravy train.

One of the huge number of promotions included "a short episodic online series" produced by Peter Jackson, after talks of a Halo movie did not come to fruition.


Discovery was able to strike a deal with Microsoft, the publisher of Halo 3, to gain exclusivity on displaying the final episode for one week, starting September 25th - the same day that the game is released, and it will continue to carry their branding afterward. Discovery is using it as a cross-promotional tool for an upcoming series, Last One Standing, which is looking to draw a similar demographic as Halo. Click on the picture above to view the video and promotion.

Not only did Discovery make a wise decision by jumping on the Halo 3 bandwagon, but they joined into an already existing viral promotion that has been proven to draw visitors by the thousands. They didn't have to develop the content, but instead were able to just jump right in. In addition, Microsoft is promoting the video already on msn.com, Facebook and other sites.

And to top it all off, it is believed that they paid a lot less than others to become a part of the Halo promotional entourage. This is the type of "Perfect Storm" that marketers dream about. Good job Discovery!

iTunes - TV's New Viral Vehicle?

Scheduling one popular show against another for a long time was a way to block out the competition, as it was only easy to watch one show at a time.

With the integration of Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) like TiVo into our lives, not only has skipping commercials become a breeze, but dual tuners allow us to watch one show and record the other for later viewing - or just watch both whenever we feel like it!

As technology advances, our lives are supposed to be easier, and our free time expanded, right? We know that that hasn't became true for many of us, especially those up and coming Gen Y'ers with company-provided cell phones who are unfortunately kept on a corporate leash. Luckily for broadcasters, we only have a finite amount of free time.

So what can they do to compete at this point? Make it more convenient for us to watch! Many channels have been hosting programs online in various forms for some time now. Desperate Housewives, for instance, invites viewers online to watch the episode again for free and Scrubs has advised that it may be downloaded on iTunes. Although these options have been present, neither have really been groundbreaking enough to cause huge changes in the way we watch TV.

This Fall season, television networks are getting serious about expanding the battleground beyond the TV.



Not longer after NBC dropped iTunes (or iTunes dropped NBC - depends on who you ask), Fox has picked up the slack by offering their new shows without ads for free - or at least the first episode of each. Only time will tell if this really puts a nail in NBC's coffin, or if NBC's new NBC Direct will take off.

Offering the shows for free on iTunes is brilliant. It is superior to offering them for free elsewhere, because many people are already browsing for content to purchase on iTunes and are more than willing to snag an episode for free. Those busy Gen Y'ers will be able to download it to their computers and watch it at their convenience - and not have to worry about streaming issues that have been seen with previous services offered by other networks.

Apple also benefits from the deal. As the message is transmitted about watching these new shows for free, the iTunes name is embedded as well. And the more that people see that watching TV shows via iTunes can be a viable option, the more quickly it will be adopted. Now if Apple would only give away the Apple TV for free or as part of a package, we could really see it take off. Or maybe they'll rent them out? Cable providers have been doing this with their boxes for years.

Only time will tell how this battle will turn out and whether it really will change the way that we watch TV. Stay (i)Tuned!

Another Reason Why Viral is the Way To Go

When TiVo came on the scene not too long ago, it started the slow death of the 30 second ad spot. It was the catalyst that served to convince even the most conservative marketers that it was time to start thinking about Web advertising.

TV advertising went on for over 50 years without threat, but unfortunately, Web marketers have not been as lucky. Within the last year, an extension for Mozilla Firefox has become popular, and some advertisers are worried about it - and they should be. Pop-ups aren't going to be the only thing blocked by knowledgeable Web-surfers.

The add-on application is called Adblock Plus. The program integrates with a user's browser (only Firefox at this point) and identifies, then blocks, advertising messages. The program is able to identify banners and advertisements by size and location and through a maintained database. The application is completely open-source and also not for profit, so ad companies can't easily buy it up and shut it down. And even if they did, another iteration would surely and swiftly rise from the dust.


Although it poses quite a threat for that portion of internet advertising, it has only been adopted by a small portion of the public. The New York Times quoted the creator of Adblock Plus, citing that approximately 2.5 million downloads have taken place so far, and 300,000 to 400,000 downloads occur each month. If growth continues at that rate, it will surely be something for marketers to worry about.

What does any of this have to do with Viral marketing? Well, Adblock Plus isn't blocking YouTube videos. It's not MySpace profiles or emails. And when interesting content is passed on from a friend or co-worker, the recipient will often go out of their way to experience it.

To sum it up: banners out, viral in.

Bob Dylan's Subterranean Viral Blues

In order to promote his album due for release in October, Dylan: His Greatest Songs, Bob Dylan has gone viral.



Using content cut from the famous Subterranean Homesick Blues portion of his movie Don't Look Back, users are able to fill in ten cards with whatever content that they would like. Those cards are then injected into the video clip, followed by a message urging viewers to check out the new album. It is then able to be shared via email.

Potential abuses for this are obvious, as the possibilities are endless. Regardless, that will serve to make the campaign even more popular.

This piece is a prime example of what viral is all about - simple and effective.

My only criticism is that it doesn't appear that it can be shared in any way but email. A welcomed addition would be to generate code to put the created video on a blog or social networking page, or to be able to send the video to sharing sites such as YouTube or Google Video. But even though these options aren't readily available, surely resourceful fans will find ways to capture the video and share it beyond its intended means - which can only be a good thing for album sales.

Martha Stewart Invades Facebook

Martha Stewart has had a presence on MySpace for some time, but has just recently opened an account on Facebook.

MySpace has been known for some time to host profiles that have been used for marketing purposes to reach young, hip audiences. The nearly endless amounts of customization that are available (due to the acceptance of both html and flash code being injected into profiles) and the willingness of users to accept friendships from friends, rock bands and nearly any celebrity that they are interested in (whether the page is official or not) makes MySpace a perfect candidate for this type of promotion.

But let's take a look at Facebook. On Facebook, profiles are plain, and all generally look the same. Focus is more on the individual, their statistics, interests and their own content (which has made Facebook a top photo sharing site). And the custom there is generally to befriend only people that you have actual relationships with. The function to show how you know each person is built into the code which proves this.

Because of the differences in each site, maybe it wasn't best for Martha to just open up a profile as she has on MySpace. However, one can see why it was chosen to be done. With the success of the MySpace profile, someone decided that the next logical step was to duplicate it on Facebook. Surely, it will be successful to an extent, as there will be hardcore fans who are willing to let that transcend the normal unspoken rules of Facebook, but it probably wasn't the most appropriate implementation.

Facebook has recently added applications to allow users to spam-up their profiles in a controlled manner (unlike the ability to change backgrounds and font colors to make text unreadable a la MySpace). Wouldn't it have been more appropriate and effect to launch a Facebook application instead of a profile?

The application route has a number of benefits. First, purists (those who will only befriend those they actually know) would be more likely to accept her in the form of an application. They also would be able to enjoy whatever service that the application gave. The application would also be more visible, as it would be seen every time that the person's profile is viewed, and the host would view it quite often as well. The only loss of not having the profile would be the visibility in the user's RSS feed, but an application can actually take this to the next level. Instead of the user seeing Martha's updates, the application can prompt users to post their own updates in their RSS feed (or even do it automatically on approval) and all of their friends can see them as well.

It should be obvious by this point that creating an application versus a profile would be a more efficient way to go viral. Aside from what has already been discussed, users also have the ability to automatically prompt other users after they have added the application - and many do. These automatic invitations come from the user specifically and not from Martha, therefore their effectiveness is sure to be heightened. Also, recipients of invitations must make an effort to accept or deny them, so cannot be as ignored.

So marketers and PR agents, please learn to see the differences between MySpace and Facebook and learn to respect those differences - it will benefit you and your client in the end.

How Not To Go Viral On YouTube

While again reading Ad Age this morning, I came across an article about Neiman Marcus "taking over the YouTube homepage" to celebrate its 100th Anniversary.

After a quick skim, I jumped over to YouTube for a look at the promotion. The page seemed completely normal, with a number of revolving video previews on a white background. I scrolled down the page, then back to the top. I finally returned to the article, assuming that the promotion just hadn't been launched on the site yet.

After finishing the article, I thought I'd take a second look. There it was - I found it! In the top right-hand corner, I noticed that there was a slightly larger video frame, with text including the Neiman Marcus brand name below.

Was this really the promotion? Maybe it was overstated by Ad Age, but this didn't look like taking over the page to me. Can it really be expected for people to find and play this, when it can hardly be found by a person actually looking for it?

Maybe there were other hurdles, but it appears that before the video even starts, something is needed to draw one to that portion of the page. If $250,000 or more is being spent, why not go the extra mile and actually throw some design into the mix?

Additionally, an unfamiliarity with the medium was apparent as well. Working within the already restrictive means on the site, there was one other addition that really could have helped it stand out - the first frame of the video. This first frame acts like a web banner, to make people want to click on it and play the video. Instead of inserting a frame with a large, readable company logo, or other means to entice the viewer, they stick with the first frame of the reel - which is unfortunately boring. See it for yourself below.



The clip starts with a number of people speaking about their impressions of the brand. This could have been interesting with the correct videography. Of the four minute clip, over the first minute is visually uninteresting, with no images regarding the actual store or brand - instead people just speaking about their experiences. No one has ever been able to glue someone to the screen with this type of shot, period. I wouldn't have finished the clip if it weren't for the feeling of necessity to write this blog post. YouTube audiences agree - the initial video has 2/5 stars as of this writing. And in addition, the initial installment of the video has over 75,000 views, while the second installment was only able to draw under 50 viewers. That means a staggering 1 in 1500 clicked through to see the next video - ouch!

Can the executives who made the decision to go on YouTube be blamed? Not really. The move to go on YouTube with the brand was actually a pretty solid one. They even had the numbers to prove it. The video probably looked fine to them - they're business people, not directors.

However, it appears that the ball was dropped a number of times during the design of this promotion. In the future, they may want to rethink the overall management of their viral promotions.