If a brand is scared of using viral then they probably don’t fully comprehend the medium, or have heard the negative stories of badly designed viral campaigns. But that isn’t an excuse for not using viral. Viral marketing can be used for a variety of interesting factors such as:
- Buzz: To launch a product, act as part of an ignition campaign, or to create brand awareness
- PR: To form the central ‘event’ around which a brand can sell PR stories into offline/online press
- Data-capture: To increase an email database, or find out something about the audience by integrating a polling function
- Direct sales: To drive traffic through to an e-commerce site and generate direct sales
- Pure advertainment: Using the viral simply to entertain the audience, while constantly reminding them of the brand
- Brand participation: Using the interactive nature of the viral to get people interacting with the brand
But a brand shouldn’t just do a viral because it is fashionable, or because their competitors are doing it, and choosing to use viral at the last minute is a common mistake. Brands will only get the most out of a viral if it’s planned early on as part of a wider campaign. The execution and creative of a viral should be determined by the campaign objectives and, realistically, by the budget. Commission a campaign by saying “we want a game” or “we want a film” is a big no-no.
What's more, trying to do too much within a single campaign is also a common problem, so making sure the objectives at the beginning of the process are realistic is very important. There will always be compromises to be made between objectives like the levels of brand control and data-capture, against levels of awareness generated through strong unconstrained creative.
For an agency, referring to the word “viral” in the creative can in fact be detrimental, as most clients don’t actually know what a viral is, so using the term can lead to people rejecting the idea. A viral will succeed or fail according to its creative. Agencies must think about why someone would pass it on to their friends. Simply creating a ‘splat’, or game involving a brand mascot, will not go viral. Viral campaigns need to be a talking point and to lead to that magical “water cooler moment”.
Just using the TV ad is not a viral. Unless the TV ad is outstanding, a re-purposed ad it isn’t going to go viral. Importantly, the content of a viral needs to be special in some way. The only way a brand can create mileage out of a TV ad is to create something like a special pre-release, include outtakes or special bonus features. Or, if they want controversy, get the as banned on TV and release it for ‘Internet only’ amidst a flourish of PR.
In addition, brands must consider the long-term, and the fact that a viral is ‘not just for Christmas’. Whereas traditional advertising media are largely limited by media space cost, once a viral is launched it can work on an ongoing way. Based around this premise, brands can develop a whole 'advertainment' campaign containing different viral executions.
Viral is also not just about the ‘Internet’. The best viral concepts are capable of creating a cross-media buzz, so when planning a campaign, agencies should think about the other media which viral can reach out into, for example; mobile (through Bluetooth), offline press, and TV. Viral can also work on both a global and a local basis, and although localised virality is more difficult to achieve, it is possible with the right strategy and creative.
Viral is not the same as a direct email campaign. A viral campaign is designed to work through word-of-mouth / peer-to-peer self referral mechanics. Buying a mailing list can be effective as part of the seeding mix, but should always be clearly justified (i.e. in terms of specific targeting).
Seeding is about placing viral content in front of key influencers within the target networks, but is often an area that is overlooked, and seen as just relying on the good-will of the agency to send out the campaign. Just as a brand wouldn’t commission a TV ad without buying media space, they shouldn’t commission a viral without considering the cost of seeding. If the creative is positioned correctly, a viral will be passed between people within these networks, and although the more influential networks now charge for posting a campaign on their site, there are still 1000’s of other sites that don’t charge.
Successful viral campaigns are not just about attracting millions of users, as often 90% of the viewers will not be the target market. Brands must be clear about what they are looking to achieve at the start of the campaign, and judge a campaign’s success against these metrics. They also need to ensure that they budget for all stages of a viral campaign, from initial strategy development to the seeding and tracking of a campaign.
In summary viral marketing is an art, requiring a set of specialist knowledge, but viral campaigns can be boiled down to 4 core activities:
- Strategy: Identifying the objectives, how viral fits in with the wider brand activity and how to achieve goals within budget
- Creative: The development of creative ideas across different media formats (e.g. game / film / application)
- Production: Turning ideas into reality. Different media take differing amounts of time to produce, and incur differing costs
- Seeding and tracking: Launching a campaign, seeding it into the relevant influencer networks and tracking its success
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