I found this interesting video of a talk from the CEO of GoViral, Jimmy Maymann. It’s quite an interesting insight into online brand building and how to get your customers’ attention these days.
GoViral are a leading player in online brand building through seeding hopeful young virals around the internet. We got them involved in a [...]
Viral making you ill?
What is Viral Marketing and how do you do it?
I’ve just had a brief put on my desk to create a viral. The first flake in the annual snowstorm of seasonal viral requests.
Obviously it’s not just during the festive period that viral breaks out it’s becoming an everyday phenomena. The problem for me is that this particular affliction is not terribly easy to track or deal with reliably.
So that brings me in a slightly round-about way to the subject of this post - successful viral marketing and how to do it.
From doing a little reading around, it has become quite apparent that the initial excitement around this medium has begun to be replaced with a little apprehension and often fear. It’s scary because many people have tried doing a Viral once or twice, the customers haven’t suddenly appeared at the door, so that’s it, a route to market ruled out for next year.We in online are very used to being able to track every part of our campaigns right down to the nuts and buttons, so even for us, virals are slightly nerve-wracking. Suddenly we’re all back in the dark ages of advertising where our brave little advertisements set sail never to be heard from or seen again.OK, I think you get the message.
So the question is how do we overcome our fear and make viral advertising work for us. Well, here’s my two-penneth on the subject.
1. You will never know your customer in theory
Because viral is by definition spread by the people who see it, you will never know if it’s going to work until it’s out there - there are no focus groups that will give an accurate answer about whether the concept will succeed or fail. The only answer is to try and try again; change the creative approach by shades - eventually you’ll get a hit.
2. You, Mr Advertiser, are not the speaker
Virals that are black and bloody adverts simply do not work. That’s why the Sony Bravia campaign works - it doesn’t even show the product.
Why is this? The answer lies in understanding how people interact with your viral.
Virals are spread by people sending them to each other. When I send something to my friend, its quality and message say something about me. I don’t want to come across as unoriginal, uncool, unfunny, unattractive or, worst of all, corporate. In fact I’d like to be the opposite of all of those (obviously I’m really not!). Therefore if the viral makes me look good to my friends then bonza, I’m sending it!
Ok Go - 23,575,004 views on youTube and counting
3. It has to make people laugh
Whatever type of laugh (surprise, shock etc) it doesn’t matter. Just make them laugh heartily and quickly and you’re part way to achieving viral-ness. It could also be weird, sexy or controversial, but ultimately I think laughter’s the best medecine.
4. Quick and easy like a Friday afternoon
Virals tend to be sent around amongst work colleagues or friends and, very often, during working hours. Like a kind of electronic office banter, successful viral can spread very fast in this environment. The key however is to make it really quick and easy to forward the viral and get the message when it arrives; no-one likes getting caught playing games at work. Require people to sign-up in order to pass the message on is viral suicide. Over complicated High-budget virals can easily be outperformed by shoe-string ideas that people can simply attach to their email.
5. It can’t be black and white at the same time
That is to say, there’s no room for compromise with a viral. Simple, immediate and original ideas never come from a committee designing with too many requirements to meet. If you’re briefing your agency think hard about a simple, single message to work with - ideally it should be summed up with one word. If you’re creating a viral, make sure you can identify this message before creating the idea.
Mentos - Theme: The Fizz maker. This simple idea is borne out of the urban legend of the effect of putting these sweets into a can of coke and is helping this brand make a big comeback.
6. What else?
Oh yes, the small matter of knowing exactly who you’re talking to. Don’t leave home without this information. You need to understand the environment that your target will view the viral and know what will make them laugh.
A word of caution - a series of letters and numbers (ABC1 etc) does not mean you understand you target. To get this right you need to really get under their skin - give ‘em a name, make ‘em your imaginary friend (or maybe that’s just me).
Lunch hour not over?
If you want to read a little more from some of the sites I’ve stolen things from go here:
Fail to succeed with Viral marketing
7 deadly sins of viral advertising
I think that’s about it. Add your comments about other things that would be good to think about.
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You’re currently reading “Viral making you ill?,” an entry on THE CURIOUS FELLOW
- Published:
- 10.17.07 / 4pm
- Category:
- thinking about work
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