Fall 2006: The Evolution of Viral Marketing

Passing it on to a friend, interacting with it, making one of your own; you may think I'm talking about a gift, or a photograph, perhaps a video game, but I'm not. Well actually it is a gift- the gift of viral marketing. This semester I have looked at many different forms of viral marketing, some for better and some for worse, some traditional and some insane, and others making a category for themselves.

A big trend among this Internet "word-of-mouth" is the free, open-video uploading and sharing Web site, YouTube.com, owned by Google. Over the course of the semester, I have written about 23 posts, and approximately seven of them have had a direct connection with YouTube. Some creating gossip and buzz like Lonelygirl15, a fictional teenage girl who confesses her life to a video camera, Borat the movie clips, and the controversial glimpse of "yet-to-be-revealed" 2008 Buick Escala.

Other companies have produced clips specifically for the site which is popular because of its grassroots video library. Smirnoff created a hip hop music video for its new iced tea flavors, Dove created a video about "Real Beauty" and how models are made up, and Coca Cola ran its scientifical experiments with Mentos on the site as well. Perhaps some ended up there by a generous consumer but there's also a good chance a company representative uploaded them as well. An advertising client of Subway even confessed to testing out one of their commercials on the site, to see if it would be successful on television.

Other videos have wound up on the site as entries to contests such as the Chevrolet Tahoe. The car manufacturer offered video, music, and text to people wanting to create their own commercial for the car and enter it to be chosen for air. The competition backfired and several consumer ads pinpointed the company in a negative light, then voluntarily uploaded onto YouTube, putting the company under more negative scrutiny.

But YouTube is not the only way companies have found ways to make videos popular. Many companies/services including Windows Live Messenger, IBM, Levi's, Guess, Folgers, ING Direct, Centive (sales management firm), and UK's Logitech webcam have uploaded videos to their own Web sites asking users to interact or simply be amused by watching. For instance, Guess's "Faces to Watch" campaign asked users to enter their name before viewing their commercial, that way when one character in the scene looks at her phone, she will find a message from your name. Video games like Gears of Wear released an interactive demo of their newest edition on the Web site making gamers grow drastically waiting in suspense.

And then there are those marketing efforts that have made a category for themselves. For instance, Virgin Money UK decided to use alternative Web site b3ta.com to ask its visitors what it means to "Say Yes." Users could upload anything from text to pictures to videos to flash images. Some entrants took the opportunity to an obscene level forcing the contest to be pulled.

And still the creative and viral use of games exist, but it does not seem to be making headlines like the videos. M&M's featured their Scary Movie trivia painting-esque game back around Halloween, and ING Direct had users play games like "Avoid the Neighbors." Branching off that, there's also the personalization tactic used by Levi's, letting site visitors upload a picture of themselves to be used as a character in their commercial, and Careerbuilder.com letting users create their own "monkey" office worker to send along to a friend by "monk-e-mail" with a cute message.

As you can see, the Internet is practically taking over what once was traditional word-of-mouth. The closest I have seen to this tactic this semester is when fans of the show "Firefly" insisted on making and selling T-shirts to promote the show's movie "Serenity." But even then they got screwed- Universal Studios hit them with a copyright bill, further killing the art of literally telling people about it outside of the world wide web!

With a new wave of Internet viral marketing, comes a new wave of Internet marketing regulations. That's right, if you recall, all these controversial marketing strategies being pulled on YouTube literally cried out for the Federal Trade Commission to step in according to Kyle Communications, Inc. back in October. The free media placement for big-time companies like Smirnoff and its negative utilization by outspoken workers like Michael Kohr, who used the Web site to complain about his bosses and authorities, is deemed unethical by some. As Kyle Neiderpruem, President of Kyle Communications, puts it: "When self restraint is not exercised and anonymity becomes the driving force to create buzz cool, the Federal Trade Commission gets busy."

Rohit Bhargava, Vice President for Interactive Marketing of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, has even set out keys for success in the viral method: Consider the risks of negative publicity, make it simple and easy to pass along, focus on the overall strategy, don't brand your product and its campaign to death, and make sure its either funny, sexy, voyeuristic, or controversial- otherwise, it's a flop!

With more dependency being placed on email to send messages and the Internet to search for resources, the World Wide Web is only going to become more and more popular over the years and as a communications/advertising haven.

Linkbaiting, mentioned in the previous post, is very similar to viral marketing focusing on email links and word-of-mouth, but I do not think it has the potential to overcome the endless possibilities and creativity of viral.

That being said, The viral marketing bug lives on!

At this time of year, I would like to wish you not only Happy Holidays, but Happy Viral Spending! May all your online shopping give you the privelege to share purchasing opportunities with your friends or email a picture of that shirt you like to your mother. Utilize those games sites like ING Direct to help and make light of a serious financial matter like purchasing a house... relax!

To You and Yours- Let Viral Bring A Smile to Your Face this Holiday Season, or even a useful link!

LinkBait Could be the New Viral Marketing

According to Lee Odden of searchnewz.com, viral marketing is fading out while "linkbaiting" is coming more into play.

The difference, he explains, is the following:

Linkbaiting at its simplest form is creating compelling content that encourages people share that content and also link to it. With viral marketing, it had more to do with the sharing of the content - via word of mouth and email mostly. Links drive traffic and can also affect link popularity - a significant influence on search engine rankings. Linkbait can come in virtually any creative form, including (but not limited to): tools, contests, awards, lists, polls, controversy, and any other form of content that encourages linking.

Eric Ward has been doing content publicity and link building since 1994. His resume includes ABC, PBS, and Amazon. For $2,000, this linkbait expert promises four things:

1)A proprietary "Link Opportunity Audit" for your site
2)Creation of a strategic link bait strategy for your site
3)Two hours of private phone discussion with Eric Ward
4)Training on promotion and link building for the new content

Seomoz.org says their linkbait services have a more intense pricing structure.

Linkbait Design - $5,000 - $15,000
Linkbait Development - $8,000 - $20,000
Linkbait Promotion - $5,000 - $10,000
All Linkbait Services Combined - $20,000 - $50,000

Odden says he would like to see more case studies from companies that offer such services. He realizes people don't want to give away any trade secrets, but notes there are plenty of ways to explain a problem/solution case study without getting into the details. Perhaps this is something the industry can undertake within the next couple of months.

I feel linkbaiting and viral marketing work hand-in-hand. Contests, awards, lists, polls, and controversy - used as examples of linkbaiting in the third italicized paragraph - are viral marketing tactics as well. Many times viral marketing is a creative buzz making tactic that draws users to click a link to send to a friend. While viral marketing also tries to generate word-of-mouth, linkbaiting seems like a way of measuring how effective that is. For example if there is a campaign for shampoo, and the company encourages viewers to see a video on their Web site, the link to the video can be a linkbait. From that bait, the company can measure how many people clicked on the link thus assessing how effective their encouragement to watch the video was. So I don't think viral marketing will fade, but will be more encouraged to collaborate with linkbaiting tools.

If I based everything on what these professionals say, I would be worried that my blog would eventually have to be one about the popular trends of "linkbaiting!" But I enjoy viral marketing and I think others do too, I'm not worried, the viral concept is going to stick around!

No More Morning Calls from Mom thanks to Folgers!

Lucy, on the right over here, will call your house in the morning if you are having trouble waking up. Just visit the Folger's sponsored Web site, The Morning Tolerator, and arrange for Lucy, "The Eagle," or "Sheldon" to call your mobile on a certain date and at a certain time. The company has creatively capitalized on associating their product with anything morning related. As they put it, "A Web Site dedicated to making your mornings more tolerable."

The site also gives you options, using the icon of a coffee maker and its buttons, to send morning emails to friends. The one on the left is an example of one of the seven prewritten emails entitled "I'M NOT GOING TO BE IN THIS MORNING."

Back to the pre-arranged phone calls, I just signed up to receive a call from Lucy tomorrow morning, and they even texted my phone to have me confirm. After replying to the text, I received the following message:
"Great you have confirmed your Wake Up Call. Remember to keep your unique code handy so that you can go 2 toleratemornings.com to change or stop your calls!"

This is a great way to maintain company rapport because they are respecting consumers while reminding them about the brand. The Web site features are extremely modern as well, one button on the coffeemaker (seen to the right) is called "The Boss Tracker." This allows users to create a simulation of their office and have their coworkers keep track of where the boss is all morning long. This will help prevent those unwanted surprise boss visits they say!

Another button very helpful, "the snooze saver," to remind you to wake up when you fall asleep at your desk and your pretty screen saver is happily running. Well, Folgers' screen saver almost has an automatic alarm programmed to make sure to wake you up if its on for too long.

I think this is a great viral marketing campaign. Its fun and offers numerous interactive and helpful features to help people run their lives better. I am certainly not a morning person so I definitely appreciate all the things Folgers offers to help me get through that horrid part of the day. Plus, the company has their logo nicely laid out in the home page, its small, red, and doesn't overbear the entire site, so as a user you don't feel bombarded with Folgers' logos or brands. Its definitely a great way to build brand loyalty among consumers, good job Folgers!

They're already helping me start my day with a wakeup call from Lucy tomorrow! I hope she doesn't yell at me! I swear, I'll wake up once she calls!

P.S. Some Information courtesy of WKRC 12 Cincinatti

Consumers Pay for Their Own Viral Marketing

Universal Studios is sending a bill to supporters of its newest movie "Serentiy (pictured right)," a spin off the television series, "Firefly." 'What did the fans do that could be so bad?' is probably your first reaction. The answer is they sold t-shirts and created Web sites, how horrible, right?! (I'm using sarcasm if you can't tell)

Yep, Universal's legal department sent cease and desist letters plus a licensing fee of $8,750 to a t-shirt peddler. Now the fans are forwarding those bills to Universal for their services. P2pnet.net says the consumers' bill is $1,822,275 to be exact. And as p2p-weblog.com says, "It's about time that fans were recognized and not attacked for their efforts."

One consumer's parent said in response to the charges:
Universal will disregard everything that they (and anyone else) do. It's going to take a hot poker to get Universal to do anything pro-consumer. Remember, all of the decisions are made by a group of women and men sitting at a table trying to figure out how to maximize profit. And that they are going to try to do, even if they are shortsighted about it."

If the consumer is right, Universal is being outrageous. Universal Studios should take tips from the #1 movie of the past two weekends and learn to embrace its consumers. "Borat" encourages its fans to repost videos on YouTube and post comments, but in this case consumers are pouring money out of their pockets to increas the fan base and Universal is obviously not appreciative.

Hasn't Universal learned to appreciate its consumers not insult them! I could see their fan base dropping if they don't make a statement about the matter soon or at least work it out with the fined consumers.

All I have to say is where is the love?!

New 2008 Buick Model Makes Bootleg Premiere

A division of General Motors Corp. admitted to posting a faux-bootleg video on YouTube of their newest 2008 model, the Buick Enclave, a crossover utility vehicle. This was the carmaker's first taste of the viral marketing phenomenon. The instant hit immediately showed up on popular automaker sites such as Jalopnik and Autoblog who posted links to the video.

Another star, golf-pro Tiger Woods was in the video as well on the golf course, approaching the car, and playing in front of it. The never-before-seen video was a 60-second clip full of wobbly camera shots, grainy images, and poor quality sound according to an article on monstersandcritics.com. The video can be viewed below.



The meaning behind the bootleg posting was to create excitement for Enclave's world introduction at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month (Nov.28), David Darovitz, Buick spokesman told the Detroit News.

It also engaged readers with numerous comments.

One Jalopnik reader, "captain slow," said:
"viral works great when the product is exciting, eagerly anticipate, and has pent up demand. this product is the answer to the question no soccer mom bothered asking...it's just not exciting except as the punch line of a joke

so two buicks walked into a bar...."

"We wanted to do something different," the spokesman, David Darovitz, said. "The idea was to make it look like a video stolen from an advertising shoot. We knew we weren`t going to fool anybody. We just wanted to do something different that would create buzz."

The idea is a prime example of why Google will probably find more profit making ways out of its open-source posting site, YouTube. Many brands, mentioned in previous posts, such as Chevrolet, Subway, and most recently the movie ",Borat," have abused the site for generating buzz and consumer appeal, for no media placement cost. I think Google will catch on and find a way to charge fees for such a promotion. Until then though, I think we will see more brands utilizing the free high reaching site to promote products and services.

be SEEN be HEARD be UNDERSTOOD

The title originates from a small marketing agency with a big brain out of Westborough, Massachussetts. Kel & Partners, an extension marketing firm, were awarded with the best viral marketing for 2006 at the annual Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange Awards (MITX). The MITX Awards is the largest and most prestigious awards competition in the country for technology innovations and celebrates the best creative and technological accomplishments emerging from New England. According to www.Earthtimes.org, a Web site publishing the latest news reports, and the Public Relations Newswire, the firm's campaign for Centive, a leader in on-demand sales compensation management, was one of the best implements of technology innovation in the nation.

The "BicBac campaign," Kel & Partners viral creation, is an animated parody of business relationships and challenges. The video can be viewed here.

Without having to spend any money on a media buy, Centive successfully leveraged BicBac's viral approach as a humorous way to increase awareness, generate revenue, generate quality leads, drive registration and increase its customer base.


The viral video, shown to the right, humorously compares the "Finance" guy with the "Sales" guy without getting too personal. Considering the topic is often a tedious one, the firm did the unthinkable and used animated businessmen with abnormally large heads to portray each occupation and relay the message of Centive.

Centive's homepage has the viral video to the right, introducting it by saying, "Living in Commission Chaos? GO!" The rest of the site is a very plain blue, orange, and white so the technique certainly livens it up a bit. I think the firm deserved the award because the topic of finances is often a dry and unexciting one so it is important for clients to surprise their customers- potential and new- with important information in an interesting manner.


I hope you get the inCENTIVE to visit again for more exciting viral marketing news!

~Lisa

Borat Movie Is #1 Thanks to... YouTube?

I was fortunate enough to watch parts of the movie, "Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," and a prequel last night thanks to my friend Miguel and the wonders of YouTube, the video-file sharing site owned by Google. But according to theglobalist.com, I am only one of some six-digit population that received this "privelege."

"Borat" is a mockumentary about the famous fictional Kazakhstani TV personality Borat who goes to the United States to make a documentary. He is played by the well-known provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen of the successful HBO's Da Ali G show. You can view the trailer for the movie below.


Grossing over $35 million in the U.S. alone and $20 million in the foreign market, its no surprise many people like myself want to go see the movie after viewing some of its content on YouTube... Mind you this movie was done with a measly production budget of $18 million. As Mario Sundar, author of "Marketing Nirvana," puts it, Borat opened in the least amount of theaters (837) compared to "Snakes on a Plane"(3,555) and "Farenheit 911"(868) but made the most money in its first weekend at the box office- $26 million, doubling "Snakes"($15.3 mil) and beating out "Farenheit"($24 mil) by about two million dollars. In fact, the article on "The Globalist," entitled "How Borat Exploited Google," says "With the help of millions of fans, Borat has effectively exploited YouTube - without paying anything to its owner."

That's right, in compensation for the over 2,000 YouTube video clips related to Borat, Google received comments running somewhere in the six-digits- and that's it. There is no media planning involved in this marketing campaign, its all viral, and for the now million-dollar richer "Borat" movie- free.

As Evgeny Morozov, author of the article, writes, "To the delight of everyone involved, several deleted episodes and lengthy real scenes had been posted online well before the movie premiere, raising everyone's appetite for the actual release of the movie." One of these scenes is shown below.


MarketingProfs: Daily Fix goes into the detailed marketing plan of the Borat movie which includes a Myspace profile (a social networking Web site), a fake press conference against the government of Kazakhstan, a failed attempt to invite "Supreme Warlord Premier George Walter Bush" to the movie premiere, and controversial news items. These unplanned public relations tactics include the government of Kazakhstan actually taking out four-page ads both in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, the European Centre of Antiziganism Research accusing Borat of “defamation and inciting violence against Sinti and Roma (gypsies)," and meeting with every TV personality possible from "Saturday Night Live" to "CNN."

What does this mean for the future?
* Companies like 20th Century Fox promoting copyrighted file sharing
(instead of filing law suits for it)
-Why hate it when its helping boost sales and create movie buzz? After seeing the success, they released more and more content on YouTube.
* Two-minute audience
-It is tailored to fit the short attention span of today's young people, who are more comfortable watching a two-minute clip on YouTube than spending two hours trying to unriddle a complicated plot.
* A Web 2.0 Blockbuster
-It received great viewer feedback on the Internet alone, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that it really debuted in movie theaters.
* People earning a living from YouTube
-Morozov suggests Google should start figuring out how people can make a living from YouTube. They certainly could have increased their own profits if they figured it out atleast for themselves.
* Bridging the needs of everyday people with professional contributors
-YouTube risks morphing into a bottomless reservoir of boring videos made by people with too much free time and too little artistic talent (for which, however, they often compensate with obscenity). Avoiding this would require Google to draft a business model that could bridge the needs of professional contributors, big entertainment studios, and regular users — all of whom have an interest in making YouTube work.

As Morozov puts it, if this succeeds, Borats will be reporting from all over the world in no time.