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Viral Marketing to Become the Norm?
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?"
Instead of MAKING the customer do something, you make it attractive enough for them to WANT to do something.
MPAA, RIAA: you taking notes?
The idea is that if the ads are cool you will tell your friends about them, and then they will see them and spread them to their friends, hence viral.
Philosophy.
Pure sales gold.
Breakfast served all day!
They've already succeeded. It's been posted on Slashdot. What better indicator of sucess in a viral marketing campaign designed to attract attention and publicity do you need?
What's purple and commutes? An Abelian grape.
I'm sorry, I must have got something wrong...
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?
I don't believe a change of this magnitude throughout the marketing industry is possible.
It would be nice, though.
However, I fear that if I start watching commercials thinking I like it, I'll have been brainwashed. And they won't have changed.
Ignore this signature. By order.
Viral advertising works because it is rare. How could it be the norm? I seriously doubt that there is enough talent out there to regularly churn out advertising that is entertaining enough. It is, after all, only advertising. People will learn to filter it out.
-matthew
"THERE IS NO JUSTICE, THERE IS ONLY ME." -Death
and it will be dead forever. Look at places like myspace. It is pure viral marketing, friends tell friends and friends get friends to join. The amusing part is, myspace makes money off of the old, failed system of marketing, while myspace enjoys having no advertising budget of their own. they have millions of stupid kids out there spouting off how great their service is. it is an amazing feat.
if anyone is trying to market their business, i suggest they read "PyroMarketing" good stuff.
Fans of the strip will catch the drift.
In other words, the second thing- this is a short-term thing to gain publicity. First, there are barely enough agencies making good ads now, let alone sustain this kind of campaign. Second, if anyone does find anyting new and different, it only takes about 30 seconds for other marketing types to glom on. Then we're bombarded with the "new and different" for a few years.
Besides- "viral marketing" is a flawed premise, at least as far as adult audiences go. Yes, viral communication is possible if you're trying to spread an idea that's similar to those already present in the viewer's mind, but once you cross the line into introducing something that the viewer didn't know he needed, you're more likely to get a cybernetic immune response.
I came, I saw, I left. It looked better in the brochure.
as a US citizen (like many others) i have been bombed and hounded by advertising for so long now that i automatically ignore all advertizing like ignoring the background noise in a factory...
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
It's true that eventually, viral marketing may become less effective than it is now. But since it's based on me watching because I want to watch, all I have to do is watch the ads I like. Hopefully, it'll become popular enough that the bludgeon-you-over-the-head ads go away.
As a consumer, that's really the Grail for me -- get rid of the bludgeon-you-over-the-head ads. No more spam, no more commercial breaks (or maybe one at the start and halfway through a show, instead of every 10 mins.)
I really do wish the best for people and their products, but at the end of the day, I'm going to buy the product I think is better. Your best bet to get me to buy computer hardware is to have it competitively priced and carried by Newegg, not to have an annoying jingle at the end of every Dell ad (Intel Inside). Advertising as a whole just isn't a reliable way to get intelligent people to buy your product -- there's a good chance you'll just annoy the potential customer out of buying the product in the first place. Case in point -- I, and most of my friends, stopped buying Pepsi because we were so annoyed at the Pepsi girl. We bought Coke instead, until years later, we finally learned to think for ourselves. Now I buy Pepsi because I think it tastes better.
So, take that marketing budget and fold it back into the company. Spend it on improving your product. Rely on word-of-mouth, and realize that it spreads insanely fast over the Internet. And if you must, use viral advertising, so that I don't have to watch it.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
The key thing I want to know about any "viral marketing" is WHO engineered the virus in the first place? Was it a stealth marketing shill trying to "subvert the cluetrain", or was it a truly grassroots meme like the Mentos+Coke thing?
If it's the latter, I'm fine with it, because it's genuine, but the former is just dirtier than even massmedia ads because the manipulation is sneekier and you KNOW the bastards are laughing all the way to the bank. At least with conventional ads you know someone's trying to sell you; with viral/stealth marketing it *could* be authentic, but it's more likely to be just some smirking jackasses taking everyone for a ride.
Power to the Peaceful
The thing is, whether you like it or not, when you see a commercial on TV you will be able to recognize the product later on. The idea is not to make commercials visually appealing and entertaining, it's to get the name out there.
I mean, when I need a new car, I know that Family Auto Mart is just off the corner of New Haven and Main Street. They finance anybody!
You didn't get the point. The film is an absolutely unwatchable piece of crap, but non-traditional (viral) marketing brought people into the theaters.
Or, he was making a pun on the virus in the movie.
Or, he's an idiot.
Or, all of the above.
I have not seen an ad for years. Huffington looks exactly the same to me. You mean there are people who don't have all ads turned off ??? ... Well I just assumed ... you know it's so easy .......
... Standards and Practices !
PenGun
Do What Now ???
'I don't see the connection between "interesting enough to make people want to watch" and "viral".'
I didn't see the connection either. But I've got good news! I just saved hundreds on car insurance...
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.