Day6

New Media

Viral marketing

A viral campaign is a marketing blitz that essentially creates a content which is cool and interesting enough that consumers will spread it on its own. Viral marketing is a marketing strategy that relies on individuals rather than traditional campaigns to pass along a message to others. It usually refers to marketing on the Internet. Viral marketing is so named because of the tendency for messages to use "hosts" to spread themselves rapidly, like a biological virus. Like viruses, such strategies take advantage of rapid multiplication to explode the message to thousands, to millionsThe term "viral marketing" first became prominent when used to describe a marketing campaign for the e-mail service Hotmail.com. When the company launched, every outgoing message contained an advertisement for Hotmail and a link to its website at the bottom of the e-mail. As people e-mailed their friends and colleagues, they were also advertising the service. Recipients could simply click on the link and sign themselves up, and as they e-mailed friends from their new account, the message spread within existing social networks and was passed along with little effort from the company. This example demonstrates all the key elements of viral marketing.

Viral marketing

A viral marketing strategy need not contain ALL these elements, but the more elements it embraces, the more powerful the results are likely to be. An effective viral marketing strategy:

•Provides for effortless transfer to others;•Scales easily from small to very large;•Exploits common motivations and behaviors;•Utilizes existing communication networks;•Takes advantage of others’ resources: As big name companies started to realize they could trick their customers into doing all the advertising at a fraction of the cost with viral marketing, they began recruiting all sorts of independent artists to create videos (Sheep art)

Sometimes a campaign is designed to be viral. Sometimes it gets there on its own.

Viral marketing

For those unfamiliar with the Harlem Shake, the craze began with a video posted by YouTube personality Filthy Frank on Feb. 2 . Thousands and thousands of people are making YouTube videos which employ an electronic, vaguely Gangnam Style–sounding ditty, created by the Brooklyn DJ Baauer, as the soundtrack for a deliriously silly template: For the first 15 seconds or so of the video, one person in a group is dancing; then, after 15 seconds, suddenly everyone in the group is wildly freestyling. Some of the videos are pretty funny, some are amateurish and the whole thing just looks like a lot of people having fun. Baauer's "Harlem Shake" still has quite a ways to go before it becomes the next "Gangnam Style” in terms of total views, but the track became an unexpected viral smash last week.

Viral videos

That’s enough to make “Harlem Shake” the “biggest thing and ultimate revenue potential according a company called INDmusic, which helps monetize the label’s video views through pre-roll ads -- like a Vevo, essentially. Since last Thursday, Feb. 7, INDmusic and YouTube’s automated ContentID have claimed over 4,000 user-uploaded videos featuring the song totaling over 30 million views by the afternoon of Feb. 14.

A viral video is tagged by traditional commercials to exploit its potential (Vevo)

Viral videos

Some campaigns are designed to be viral. Here The story is more important than the product. In fact, it may not even be shown yet the ad is mind-blowing and memorable because of the story.

1.Volkswagen: The Force. Agency: Deutsch, Los Angeles Launch date: Feb. 3 Views: 62.7 millionWho could forget Little Darth, the endearing kid in the Vader mask attempting to use The Force on his dog, a peanut-butter sandwich and, more successfully, a Passat. Volkswagen gave this the ultimate paid placement in the Super Bowl but launched it the previous week on the web, where it garnered 14 million views before the game. With 600 placements, the video is on pace to become one of the most-watched viral ads of all time.

2. T-Mobile: Royal Wedding. Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, LondonLaunch date: April 12 Views: 28.4 millionBrands rarely act fast enough to jump on a cultural phenomenon and create a meme, but since William and Kate's event had a date, T-Mobile had time. The resulting spoof featured royal lookalikes prancing down the aisle in an homage to a true viral video, "JK Wedding Dance" (71 million views). It was released a few weeks before the nuptials and added to a T-Mobile legacy that includes such huge hits as "T-Mobile Dance" at London's Liverpool Station.

Viral campaigns

Why it spreads

Why people pass it on?

It’s entertaining. The content inspires a certain emotion whether it be anger, fear, love or happiness.

There must be something new and exciting about the campaign that makes people go: “What is that?!” It’s a message unique, unexpected and memorable.

“history has shown that there’s nothing people like more than surreal, nonsensical humour that they can quote endlessly. This is what spreads on the Internet first and foremost, and are often the chief drivers of what is considered “cool”. People want to be famous and cool. They want to feel wanted and appreciated. It exists in the same universe as you and your closest friends If viral marketing has taught advertisers anything, it’s that the biggest celebrity in the world means next to nothing compared with normal people It is easy to transmit. It is contagious if it never restrict users in any way. There’s no ask for payment or ask to register.

The original term was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his 1984 book ‘Guerrilla Advertising’. The term guerrilla marketing was inspired by guerrilla warfare which is a form of irregular warfare and relates to the small tactic strategies used by armed civilians. Many of these tactics includes ambushes, sabotage, raids and elements of surprise. This alternative advertising style relies heavily on unconventional marketing strategy, high energy and imagination. Guerrilla Marketing is about taking the consumer by surprise, make an indelible impression and create social buzz. Guerrilla marketing is said to make a far more valuable impression with consumers in comparison to more traditional forms of advertising and marketing. This is due to the fact that most guerrilla marketing campaigns aim to strike the consumer at a more personal and memorable level.

Guerrilla Marketing

Guerrilla MarketingSometimes Guerrilla Marketing is complement to traditional medias, like Coca Cola Happiness truck.