Part Two: Sightings of Viral Marketing Campaigns
Impelling a marketing campaign to go viral can simultaneously create an instant brand and establish an online identity to an ever-expanding audience. But, as I discussed in “Part One: Viral Marketing the Beast”, viral campaigns can be unpredictable and difficult to control. That is not to say they are impossible. Successful viral marketing campaigns are numerous it is just a matter of breaking it down and comparing the do’s and don’t’s of viral marketing paradigms.
Viral Marketing Conquests
Many acknowledged viral marketing campaigns produced content that was simple and inexpensive in production–a factor that often builds trust in viewers. Over-produced content can point to the production team behind the curtain and detract attention away from the campaign’s message. The following are some examples of marketing campaigns that went viral and transcended their media by focusing on one simple, honest angle at a time.
Exposal–Dove Evolution
To date this short has over 13 million views. The video films a model arriving on the set of a photo-shoot with no make up, then shows her being transformed with make-up, lighting, and eventually digital manipulation. What made this video such a success was how it seemed as if Dove was exposing an insiders secret. Digital manipulation of models was something that in 2006 was beginning to come to light, Dove confirmed the suspicion and even took the campaign a step further by creating the Dove Self Esteem Fund–an awareness campaign against the falsification of beauty. Dove took a simple idea and execution and created a seemingly sincere message that audience appreciate and wanted to share with their friends.
Ingenuity–Bike Hero
Bike Hero is an example of how creativity and ingenuity are two driving factors of whether or not content goes viral. The video consists of a bicycle rider recreating the video game Guitar Hero using chalk marks on the road as his screen and his bike as his guitar. He then plays out the song matching the ride perfectly with the route and song. This video captivated an audience of over 2 million views mostly because of its impressive ingenuity. The brand is clear and recognizable without ever being mentioned.
Interactivity–The Old Spice Guy
Unlike the previous examples, Old Spice chose to put their brand all over their viral marketing campaign. They started with a few TV commercials staring a character known as “The Old Spice Guy”, then built a highly interactive online presence for the character through combining Twitter and YouTube accounts. Tweets to @OldSpice were quickly answered by the character in a way of a personal video.
Although these videos and the commercial gained a lot of attention, the campaign did not stop there. Old Spice ran with the popularity of the viral marketing project, creating a the “Old Spice Guy vs Fabio” campaign in late July of 2011. In this series, tweets were answered with videos by both Fabio and the Old Spice Guy via YouTube, as they dueled for the title of New Old Spice Guy. Viewers were requested to follow their preferred contender on twitter. By staying on top of their viral marketing campaign and keeping their brand as part of a long running joke Old Spice was able to keep fans engaged for nearly two years. Overall views on the Old Spice YouTube Channel amount to more than 234 million to date.
Backlash in Viral Marketing
It is important to note that not all viral buzz surrounding a company ends in good exposure. Internet users are quick to make judgements for or against a company and they cannot easily be fooled. Keeping an online presence can include just as much defensive as offensive strategy. The following are examples of failed marketing campaigns or harmful online brand exposure.
Dishonesty–Wal-Mart’s Sponsored Blog
Dishonesty is a major deterrent with online users and the success of your viral marketing campaign. For instance, Wal-Mart hired an advertising agency to create a viral campaign. That campaign ended up entailing a couple traveling in an RV, staying in Wal-Mart parking lots and blogging about products and experiences. While the couple traveling was real, their trip was fully sponsored by Wal-Mart, and they were being paid to do the blogging. Once exposed, real followers felt betrayed and word spread of Wal-Mart’s attempt to trick audiences with a false blog. Read more about the Wal-Mart blog.
Awareness–Domino’s
Being aware of your online presences is just as important as having one. Domino’s Pizza befell a major blow to their brand in 2009 when a couple of employees recorded themselves at work defiling pizzas and posted the video on YouTube. The video went viral and it took the company 48 hours to gain knowledge of the exposure and react–a response time that could have made the difference between a few million to several million viewers. However, the best solution for Domino’s would have been ready for the attack before it happened. There are many tools offered to companies for this purpose such as Google Alerts a free system that alerts you whenever your Company’s name pops-up online. Learn from Domino’s mistake and invest time into protecting your company’s online presence. Read more about Domino’s Blunder
After reviewing the examples of some successful campaigns and a few catastrophes in viral marketing it’s easy to see viral marketing takes a lot of planning. In my next blog I’ll be discussing a few tips for getting a marketing campaign to take off faster than a zombie infestation.
by Stephanie Cain
