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Viral Marketing to Become the Norm?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the advertisers-working-for-their-bread-and-butter dept.

An anonymous reader writes "One of the oldest advertising companies in the U.S., JWT, has just bought up all the Huffington Post's front-page ad space for a whole week. They are taking the unique approach of trying to create ad content interesting enough to make people want to watch, instead of the traditional ad agency approach of bludgeoning the user base over the head through interstitials and other forced ad techniques. Will the ad companies be able to put forth enough continued effort to make good ads that become viral, or is this just a short phase to gain publicity?"

6 of 213 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Sorry, but... by Orange+Crush · · Score: 4, Funny

    They're using Viral Marketing and leveraging Web 2.0 paradigms to synergistically create scalable advertising solu--. . . oh bother . . . they're not even using AJAX.

  2. Re:Hmmm by Skidge · · Score: 4, Funny
    You're not saying some time in the future I won't be forced to watch commercials because some gizmo or another preventing me from switching channels? I'll watch commercials of my own free will?

    No, the idea is that you'll succumb to peer pressure and watch commercials because all of the cool kids are doing it.
  3. Publicity Stunt? by bazily · · Score: 3, Funny
    "...or is this just a short phase to gain publicity?"

    It worked.

    --
    Why cut IT when your office space costs $3/sf? gibso
  4. I keep telling everyone... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... that viral marketing just doesn't work.

  5. Re:What a concept! by 0racle · · Score: 3, Funny

    I assume you never use shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, or soap then?

    --
    "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
  6. Re:What a concept! by Karma+Farmer · · Score: 3, Funny
    I assume you never use shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, or soap then?
    I'm sorry, I'm sometimes so caught up in the the comforts of 21st century first world living that I forget how difficulty it is for some people to obtain the bare necessities of life.

    I think we all remember the great alum shortages of the mid 90's, and the deaths of millions as they ran out of precious, life sustaining deodorant.