Viral marketing is most commonly associated with the production of media, such as a funny video, game or text message, which is passed on from one person to the next. You could say that it is the online equivalent of word of mouth; a successful viral campaign could take the form of a funny brand commercial which is passed around via email.
One example that always springs to mind whenever I discuss viral marketing has to be Agent Provocateur. The male readers of the blog will instantly know what I am talking about, yep, Kylie Minogue riding a velvet bucking bronco style bull whilst wearing Agent Provocateur underwear. As you can imagine as massive hit with men, and maybe a few ladies as well.
After being banned by cinemas, where it was originally intended for, the commercial became an online hit and since 2001 the video has clocked up a massive 350 million views on YouTube (source: utalkmarketing, fashionwindows) and has been dubbed the most successful viral video ever. The return on investment for this advert was no doubt epic.
Online games are another form of media with the potential of becoming a viral success and exposing a brand to hundreds (possibly thousands) of people. A recent example of a branded game going viral is Cravendale who aim to capitilise on the sharing format of Twitter and perhaps our obsession with health (or lack of), with a Twitter Health application as part of their Milk Matters campaign.
These are some rare cases of a marketing activity going viral but for every advertising campaign or online application that goes on to become an online success there a literally thousands that don’t.
It should be made clear to anyone wanting to create a viral video the majority of viral successes are not produced for that sole intention. They form part of a wider campaign and with any luck are picked up by online users because it is entertaining and/or relevant and it then goes on to become viral. After all the Kylie advert wasn’t produced to be an online viral success, it was produced as a promotional advert for the cinemas but given its content and the ability to view it online at YouTube it was turned it into a viral video.
This is perhaps one of the biggest factors with viral marketing, you cannot create a viral campaign in a design studio, sure you can go ahead and build fancy games for your website and film a commercial but the truth of it all is that it will not become a viral hit unless we, the public, decide it so.
Any brand looking for a viral success should focus on building a marketing campaign focused on developing the brand relationship with the target market, seeking out new channels of communications and fulfilling the needs of the market… and any viral success that stems from this campaign will be an added bonus.
