Viral marketing

Is that supposed to be funny?

Over the years 'viral' has become an industry buzz word. Originally it was used to refer to low budget ‘funny’ video clips attached to emails, now it is as likely to be an interactive game or quiz as a YouTube video. The theory is that you create content so good that your audience will immediately forward it on to people they know. This means the ‘viral’ will be more warmly received, leading to higher levels of engagement and interaction with your content. In practice you can't create a 'viral', but you can create work which is more likely to become 'viral'.

Now, that is good

For a ‘viral’ to work it has to entertain your audience and build your brand. Great examples we’ve enjoyed and forwarded on include Burger King’s Kingon Defense Academy (no longer live), David Shrigley’s Pringle of Scotland Animation (we assume Pringle of Scotland are deliberately trying to reach newer audiences with this) and Volkswagen’s Fun Theory which was so effective it was really hard to find the site via Google as the YouTube clips are on hundreds of blogs.

Questions?

To discuss how viral marketing could be used as part of your marketing communications, call Iain on 0131 625 5500.