Pass it Around: The Viral Marketing Bug

Fall 2006: The Evolution of Viral Marketing

2006-12-06T14:31:00.000-08:00

Passing it on to a friend, interacting with it, making one of your own; you may think I'm talking about a gift, or a photograph, perhaps a video game, but I'm not. Well actually it is a gift- the gift of viral marketing. This semester I have looked at many different forms of viral marketing, some for better and some for worse, some traditional and some insane, and others making a category for themselves.

A big trend among this Internet "word-of-mouth" is the free, open-video uploading and sharing Web site, YouTube.com, owned by Google. Over the course of the semester, I have written about 23 posts, and approximately seven of them have had a direct connection with YouTube. Some creating gossip and buzz like Lonelygirl15, a fictional teenage girl who confesses her life to a video camera, Borat the movie clips, and the controversial glimpse of "yet-to-be-revealed" 2008 Buick Escala.

Other companies have produced clips specifically for the site which is popular because of its grassroots video library. Smirnoff created a hip hop music video for its new iced tea flavors, Dove created a video about "Real Beauty" and how models are made up, and Coca Cola ran its scientifical experiments with Mentos on the site as well. Perhaps some ended up there by a generous consumer but there's also a good chance a company representative uploaded them as well. An advertising client of Subway even confessed to testing out one of their commercials on the site, to see if it would be successful on television.

Other videos have wound up on the site as entries to contests such as the Chevrolet Tahoe. The car manufacturer offered video, music, and text to people wanting to create their own commercial for the car and enter it to be chosen for air. The competition backfired and several consumer ads pinpointed the company in a negative light, then voluntarily uploaded onto YouTube, putting the company under more negative scrutiny.

But YouTube is not the only way companies have found ways to make videos popular. Many companies/services including Windows Live Messenger, IBM, Levi's, Guess, Folgers, ING Direct, Centive (sales management firm), and UK's Logitech webcam have uploaded videos to their own Web sites asking users to interact or simply be amused by watching. For instance, Guess's "Faces to Watch" campaign asked users to enter their name before viewing their commercial, that way when one character in the scene looks at her phone, she will find a message from your name. Video games like Gears of Wear released an interactive demo of their newest edition on the Web site making gamers grow drastically waiting in suspense.

And then there are those marketing efforts that have made a category for themselves. For instance, Virgin Money UK decided to use alternative Web site b3ta.com to ask its visitors what it means to "Say Yes." Users could upload anything from text to pictures to videos to flash images. Some entrants took the opportunity to an obscene level forcing the contest to be pulled.

And still the creative and viral use of games exist, but it does not seem to be making headlines like the videos. M&M's featured their Scary Movie trivia painting-esque game back around Halloween, and ING Direct had users play games like "Avoid the Neighbors." Branching off that, there's also the personalization tactic used by Levi's, letting site visitors upload a picture of themselves to be used as a character in their commercial, and Careerbuilder.com letting users create their own "monkey" office worker to send along to a friend by "monk-e-mail" with a cute message.

As you can see, the Internet is practically taking over what once was traditional word-of-mouth. The closest I have seen to this tactic this semester is when fans of the show "Firefly" insisted on making and selling T-shirts to promote the show's movie "Serenity." But even then they got screwed- Universal Studios hit them with a copyright bill, further killing the art of literally telling people about it outside of the world wide web!

With a new wave of Internet viral marketing, comes a new wave of Internet marketing regulations. That's right, if you recall, all these controversial marketing strategies being pulled on YouTube literally cried out for the Federal Trade Commission to step in according to Kyle Communications, Inc. back in October. The free media placement for big-time companies like Smirnoff and its negative utilization by outspoken workers like Michael Kohr, who used the Web site to complain about his bosses and authorities, is deemed unethical by some. As Kyle Neiderpruem, President of Kyle Communications, puts it: "When self restraint is not exercised and anonymity becomes the driving force to create buzz cool, the Federal Trade Commission gets busy."

Rohit Bhargava, Vice President for Interactive Marketing of Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, has even set out keys for success in the viral method: Consider the risks of negative publicity, make it simple and easy to pass along, focus on the overall strategy, don't brand your product and its campaign to death, and make sure its either funny, sexy, voyeuristic, or controversial- otherwise, it's a flop!

With more dependency being placed on email to send messages and the Internet to search for resources, the World Wide Web is only going to become more and more popular over the years and as a communications/advertising haven.

Linkbaiting, mentioned in the previous post, is very similar to viral marketing focusing on email links and word-of-mouth, but I do not think it has the potential to overcome the endless possibilities and creativity of viral.

That being said, The viral marketing bug lives on!

At this time of year, I would like to wish you not only Happy Holidays, but Happy Viral Spending! May all your online shopping give you the privelege to share purchasing opportunities with your friends or email a picture of that shirt you like to your mother. Utilize those games sites like ING Direct to help and make light of a serious financial matter like purchasing a house... relax!

To You and Yours- Let Viral Bring A Smile to Your Face this Holiday Season, or even a useful link!

LinkBait Could be the New Viral Marketing

2006-12-02T15:04:00.000-08:00

According to Lee Odden of searchnewz.com, viral marketing is fading out while "linkbaiting" is coming more into play.

The difference, he explains, is the following:

Linkbaiting at its simplest form is creating compelling content that encourages people share that content and also link to it. With viral marketing, it had more to do with the sharing of the content - via word of mouth and email mostly. Links drive traffic and can also affect link popularity - a significant influence on search engine rankings. Linkbait can come in virtually any creative form, including (but not limited to): tools, contests, awards, lists, polls, controversy, and any other form of content that encourages linking.

Eric Ward has been doing content publicity and link building since 1994. His resume includes ABC, PBS, and Amazon. For $2,000, this linkbait expert promises four things:

1)A proprietary "Link Opportunity Audit" for your site
2)Creation of a strategic link bait strategy for your site
3)Two hours of private phone discussion with Eric Ward
4)Training on promotion and link building for the new content

Seomoz.org says their linkbait services have a more intense pricing structure.

Linkbait Design - $5,000 - $15,000
Linkbait Development - $8,000 - $20,000
Linkbait Promotion - $5,000 - $10,000
All Linkbait Services Combined - $20,000 - $50,000

Odden says he would like to see more case studies from companies that offer such services. He realizes people don't want to give away any trade secrets, but notes there are plenty of ways to explain a problem/solution case study without getting into the details. Perhaps this is something the industry can undertake within the next couple of months.

I feel linkbaiting and viral marketing work hand-in-hand. Contests, awards, lists, polls, and controversy - used as examples of linkbaiting in the third italicized paragraph - are viral marketing tactics as well. Many times viral marketing is a creative buzz making tactic that draws users to click a link to send to a friend. While viral marketing also tries to generate word-of-mouth, linkbaiting seems like a way of measuring how effective that is. For example if there is a campaign for shampoo, and the company encourages viewers to see a video on their Web site, the link to the video can be a linkbait. From that bait, the company can measure how many people clicked on the link thus assessing how effective their encouragement to watch the video was. So I don't think viral marketing will fade, but will be more encouraged to collaborate with linkbaiting tools.

If I based everything on what these professionals say, I would be worried that my blog would eventually have to be one about the popular trends of "linkbaiting!" But I enjoy viral marketing and I think others do too, I'm not worried, the viral concept is going to stick around!

No More Morning Calls from Mom thanks to Folgers!

2006-11-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

Lucy, on the right over here, will call your house in the morning if you are having trouble waking up. Just visit the Folger's sponsored Web site, The Morning Tolerator, and arrange for Lucy, "The Eagle," or "Sheldon" to call your mobile on a certain date and at a certain time. The company has creatively capitalized on associating their product with anything morning related. As they put it, "A Web Site dedicated to making your mornings more tolerable."

The site also gives you options, using the icon of a coffee maker and its buttons, to send morning emails to friends. The one on the left is an example of one of the seven prewritten emails entitled "I'M NOT GOING TO BE IN THIS MORNING."

Back to the pre-arranged phone calls, I just signed up to receive a call from Lucy tomorrow morning, and they even texted my phone to have me confirm. After replying to the text, I received the following message:
"Great you have confirmed your Wake Up Call. Remember to keep your unique code handy so that you can go 2 toleratemornings.com to change or stop your calls!"

This is a great way to maintain company rapport because they are respecting consumers while reminding them about the brand. The Web site features are extremely modern as well, one button on the coffeemaker (seen to the right) is called "The Boss Tracker." This allows users to create a simulation of their office and have their coworkers keep track of where the boss is all morning long. This will help prevent those unwanted surprise boss visits they say!

Another button very helpful, "the snooze saver," to remind you to wake up when you fall asleep at your desk and your pretty screen saver is happily running. Well, Folgers' screen saver almost has an automatic alarm programmed to make sure to wake you up if its on for too long.

I think this is a great viral marketing campaign. Its fun and offers numerous interactive and helpful features to help people run their lives better. I am certainly not a morning person so I definitely appreciate all the things Folgers offers to help me get through that horrid part of the day. Plus, the company has their logo nicely laid out in the home page, its small, red, and doesn't overbear the entire site, so as a user you don't feel bombarded with Folgers' logos or brands. Its definitely a great way to build brand loyalty among consumers, good job Folgers!

They're already helping me start my day with a wakeup call from Lucy tomorrow! I hope she doesn't yell at me! I swear, I'll wake up once she calls!

P.S. Some Information courtesy of WKRC 12 Cincinatti

Consumers Pay for Their Own Viral Marketing

2006-11-18T18:16:00.000-08:00

Universal Studios is sending a bill to supporters of its newest movie "Serentiy (pictured right)," a spin off the television series, "Firefly." 'What did the fans do that could be so bad?' is probably your first reaction. The answer is they sold t-shirts and created Web sites, how horrible, right?! (I'm using sarcasm if you can't tell)

Yep, Universal's legal department sent cease and desist letters plus a licensing fee of $8,750 to a t-shirt peddler. Now the fans are forwarding those bills to Universal for their services. P2pnet.net says the consumers' bill is $1,822,275 to be exact. And as p2p-weblog.com says, "It's about time that fans were recognized and not attacked for their efforts."

One consumer's parent said in response to the charges:
Universal will disregard everything that they (and anyone else) do. It's going to take a hot poker to get Universal to do anything pro-consumer. Remember, all of the decisions are made by a group of women and men sitting at a table trying to figure out how to maximize profit. And that they are going to try to do, even if they are shortsighted about it."

If the consumer is right, Universal is being outrageous. Universal Studios should take tips from the #1 movie of the past two weekends and learn to embrace its consumers. "Borat" encourages its fans to repost videos on YouTube and post comments, but in this case consumers are pouring money out of their pockets to increas the fan base and Universal is obviously not appreciative.

Hasn't Universal learned to appreciate its consumers not insult them! I could see their fan base dropping if they don't make a statement about the matter soon or at least work it out with the fined consumers.

All I have to say is where is the love?!

New 2008 Buick Model Makes Bootleg Premiere

2006-11-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

A division of General Motors Corp. admitted to posting a faux-bootleg video on YouTube of their newest 2008 model, the Buick Enclave, a crossover utility vehicle. This was the carmaker's first taste of the viral marketing phenomenon. The instant hit immediately showed up on popular automaker sites such as Jalopnik and Autoblog who posted links to the video.

Another star, golf-pro Tiger Woods was in the video as well on the golf course, approaching the car, and playing in front of it. The never-before-seen video was a 60-second clip full of wobbly camera shots, grainy images, and poor quality sound according to an article on monstersandcritics.com. The video can be viewed below.

The meaning behind the bootleg posting was to create excitement for Enclave's world introduction at the Los Angeles Auto Show later this month (Nov.28), David Darovitz, Buick spokesman told the Detroit News.

It also engaged readers with numerous comments.

One Jalopnik reader, "captain slow," said:
"viral works great when the product is exciting, eagerly anticipate, and has pent up demand. this product is the answer to the question no soccer mom bothered asking...it's just not exciting except as the punch line of a joke

so two buicks walked into a bar...."

"We wanted to do something different," the spokesman, David Darovitz, said. "The idea was to make it look like a video stolen from an advertising shoot. We knew we weren`t going to fool anybody. We just wanted to do something different that would create buzz."

The idea is a prime example of why Google will probably find more profit making ways out of its open-source posting site, YouTube. Many brands, mentioned in previous posts, such as Chevrolet, Subway, and most recently the movie ",Borat," have abused the site for generating buzz and consumer appeal, for no media placement cost. I think Google will catch on and find a way to charge fees for such a promotion. Until then though, I think we will see more brands utilizing the free high reaching site to promote products and services.

be SEEN be HEARD be UNDERSTOOD

2006-11-11T12:44:00.000-08:00

The title originates from a small marketing agency with a big brain out of Westborough, Massachussetts. Kel & Partners, an extension marketing firm, were awarded with the best viral marketing for 2006 at the annual Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange Awards (MITX). The MITX Awards is the largest and most prestigious awards competition in the country for technology innovations and celebrates the best creative and technological accomplishments emerging from New England. According to www.Earthtimes.org, a Web site publishing the latest news reports, and the Public Relations Newswire, the firm's campaign for Centive, a leader in on-demand sales compensation management, was one of the best implements of technology innovation in the nation.

The "BicBac campaign," Kel & Partners viral creation, is an animated parody of business relationships and challenges. The video can be viewed here.

Without having to spend any money on a media buy, Centive successfully leveraged BicBac's viral approach as a humorous way to increase awareness, generate revenue, generate quality leads, drive registration and increase its customer base.

The viral video, shown to the right, humorously compares the "Finance" guy with the "Sales" guy without getting too personal. Considering the topic is often a tedious one, the firm did the unthinkable and used animated businessmen with abnormally large heads to portray each occupation and relay the message of Centive.

Centive's homepage has the viral video to the right, introducting it by saying, "Living in Commission Chaos? GO!" The rest of the site is a very plain blue, orange, and white so the technique certainly livens it up a bit. I think the firm deserved the award because the topic of finances is often a dry and unexciting one so it is important for clients to surprise their customers- potential and new- with important information in an interesting manner.

I hope you get the inCENTIVE to visit again for more exciting viral marketing news!

~Lisa

Borat Movie Is #1 Thanks to... YouTube?

2006-11-09T15:13:00.000-08:00

I was fortunate enough to watch parts of the movie, "Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," and a prequel last night thanks to my friend Miguel and the wonders of YouTube, the video-file sharing site owned by Google. But according to theglobalist.com, I am only one of some six-digit population that received this "privelege."

"Borat" is a mockumentary about the famous fictional Kazakhstani TV personality Borat who goes to the United States to make a documentary. He is played by the well-known provocateur Sacha Baron Cohen of the successful HBO's Da Ali G show. You can view the trailer for the movie below.

Grossing over $35 million in the U.S. alone and $20 million in the foreign market, its no surprise many people like myself want to go see the movie after viewing some of its content on YouTube... Mind you this movie was done with a measly production budget of $18 million. As Mario Sundar, author of "Marketing Nirvana," puts it, Borat opened in the least amount of theaters (837) compared to "Snakes on a Plane"(3,555) and "Farenheit 911"(868) but made the most money in its first weekend at the box office- $26 million, doubling "Snakes"($15.3 mil) and beating out "Farenheit"($24 mil) by about two million dollars. In fact, the article on "The Globalist," entitled "How Borat Exploited Google," says "With the help of millions of fans, Borat has effectively exploited YouTube - without paying anything to its owner."

That's right, in compensation for the over 2,000 YouTube video clips related to Borat, Google received comments running somewhere in the six-digits- and that's it. There is no media planning involved in this marketing campaign, its all viral, and for the now million-dollar richer "Borat" movie- free.

As Evgeny Morozov, author of the article, writes, "To the delight of everyone involved, several deleted episodes and lengthy real scenes had been posted online well before the movie premiere, raising everyone's appetite for the actual release of the movie." One of these scenes is shown below.

MarketingProfs: Daily Fix goes into the detailed marketing plan of the Borat movie which includes a Myspace profile (a social networking Web site), a fake press conference against the government of Kazakhstan, a failed attempt to invite "Supreme Warlord Premier George Walter Bush" to the movie premiere, and controversial news items. These unplanned public relations tactics include the government of Kazakhstan actually taking out four-page ads both in the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune, the European Centre of Antiziganism Research accusing Borat of “defamation and inciting violence against Sinti and Roma (gypsies)," and meeting with every TV personality possible from "Saturday Night Live" to "CNN."

What does this mean for the future?
* Companies like 20th Century Fox promoting copyrighted file sharing
(instead of filing law suits for it)
-Why hate it when its helping boost sales and create movie buzz? After seeing the success, they released more and more content on YouTube.
* Two-minute audience
-It is tailored to fit the short attention span of today's young people, who are more comfortable watching a two-minute clip on YouTube than spending two hours trying to unriddle a complicated plot.
* A Web 2.0 Blockbuster
-It received great viewer feedback on the Internet alone, but we have to keep reminding ourselves that it really debuted in movie theaters.
* People earning a living from YouTube
-Morozov suggests Google should start figuring out how people can make a living from YouTube. They certainly could have increased their own profits if they figured it out atleast for themselves.
* Bridging the needs of everyday people with professional contributors
-YouTube risks morphing into a bottomless reservoir of boring videos made by people with too much free time and too little artistic talent (for which, however, they often compensate with obscenity). Avoiding this would require Google to draft a business model that could bridge the needs of professional contributors, big entertainment studios, and regular users — all of whom have an interest in making YouTube work.

As Morozov puts it, if this succeeds, Borats will be reporting from all over the world in no time.

Webcam promoted in the UK through viral embarrasment

2006-11-04T15:09:00.000-08:00

If you put to thought the fact that the UK is much more revealing when it comes to sex and language in the media, computer and games console firm Logitech's newest viral video "Our Secret," will have you laughing.

To promote their webcam, they use an English couple who communicates through the product after a long day. This is the company's second installment of the viral video series following the first entitled "Working Late" which shows the same man lying to his girlfriend via webcam that he is working late, when in reality he is in the pub with friends.

"Our Secret" has the man at work and the woman at home as they call each other secret pet names and the girlfriend urges her lover to make a silly puppy face. He actually does it despite the fact that he is at work.

The punch line is that the camera zooms out at the end of the conversation and we see the girl laughing at the matter with all her friends in the kitchen!

Creator Kitcatt Nohr Alexander Shaw said: "Logitech have chosen a bold and relevant route using viral and we're delighted to have been given such creative freedom with both the script and production values." Even the Web site is viral, aside from the video. As you can see in the image above, circled in red is the option to email the page to a friend.

Daniel Moyano, European product manager at Logitech, said: "Kitcatt's Nohr's viral film has achieved our aim of amusing and engaging the viewer in a subtle and surprising way."

Distribution for the movie was handled by digital agency Underwired and the film was directed by Ronnie West, of production company RSA Films.

This is a very clever idea on the part of Logitech and Nohr. It draws viewers in and retains their attention while also showing how effectively, how personal, and how private their webcam product can be! As shown in the movie, the boyfriend had no clue all those girls were even in the room! The boyfriend's coworkers noticed a bit, but just enough to wonder what was going on, so the conversation was still generally kept personal. I give companies extra kudos when they give users the option to share every page on their site, which is exactly what Logitech does in addition to the video.

Extra viral marketing options certainly can't hurt in this situation! For a product sold by several companies performing the same duties, advertisements like these are necessary to get ahead in the revenue competition.

Information provided with the help of brandrepublic.com.

If nothing else, I think we can all learn to be careful what we say/do next time we have a webcam on us, especially a Logitech one!

~Lisa

Virgin Money Quits "Saying Yes"

2006-11-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

Taking the blog to a more global level, Virgin Money UK's "Saying Yes" campaign backfired when they used offbeat humor Web site, b3ta.com, to promote their product. The site has a weekly competition feature known as the "image challenge."

This week's challenge says, "Let's face it: the flags used by most countries are too old to represent them today - and it's time they were updated to reflect this. So design a new flag for an old country." This is the kind of competition that got the brand into trouble. The company, related to the well-known Virgin Records, offers various financial products including credit cards, loans, mortgages, insurance, and more.

Pictured on the right is an example of the kind of feedback users will give in response to the above challenge. Twenty pages of entries filled the site, and aother moving entry can be viewed here.

So for Virgin's image challenge users were asked to come up with ideas that would illustrate the value of 'saying yes', in line with the company's current advertising campaign. Prizes such as a Sony PlayStation were offered for the winning entry.

Feedback received consisted of doctored pictures of the two Soham murder victims, estate agents boards with 'Virgin Repossessions' and an image of Branson urinating on Manuel, the site's owner.

After that, and hundreds of suggestions were sent in, walking a fine line between obscene and acceptable, the challenge was quickly pulled. A Virgin money spokesman said the site is known for its cutting edge creativity and many of the responses were very clever. He also said they expected users to make fun of the brand, but several images using young children with sexual connotations was indecent and forced them to end the competition.

Rob Manuel, who runs the site, said on a message board posting on b3ta.com that he foresaw the trouble before the idea was even released.

"Yep, they pulled the challenge, yep; they were told before they opened it exactly how it would play out; yep, they asked us to delete it and yep, I think the whole thing is funny," said Rob Manuel, who runs the site, in a message board posting on the site.

This is quite similar to instances that happened with Chevrolet and Nike when they tried to launch consumer-generated content. I'm not sure how often this happens in teh UK, but had the company done some research before their launch, I think they would have seen what has happened to brands like these and taken a little more caution. The result now is bad press which is never good. Despite the negatives, I commend Virgin Money on attempting the idea because from browsing the site, one can see the feedback is very unique. I can see how they thought it might help them, but unfortunately, consumers are not always so nice, especially to a company that would potentially deal with their money!

Money makes the world go around, but not in consumer-generated content!

Lisa

P.S. Content provided with the help of ITPro.co.uk.

Dove's Spreads Real Beauty

2006-10-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/11841.asp

Dove's Evolution of Beauty Campaign

For the past year, Dove has been breaking ground showing models out of the typical 5'8 and above, 100 pounds or less body type in their advertisements. Now they are taking it a step further, providing a video, as seen above, of the reality of how exactly the media makes people believe these models are "perfect."

Studies have shown the unrealistic and unhealthy images of women portrayed in the media have been increasingly stealing self-esteem and a healthy lifestyle from females across the globe. Dove took action with their Campaign for Real Beauty, and according to Dove marketing director Kathy O'Brien, the company wants the ads to "change the way society views beauty," and "provoke discussion and debate." An article on MSNBC.com notes the campaign has also caused controversy and offending some because they view it as unattractive or because they believe it is not the right way to define "beauty."

The new video is posted on YouTube, with nearly a million views, and the campaign's Web site. Rohit Bhargava, Vice President for Interactive Marketing at Ogilvy & Mather, says:

"It's the ultimate in video distribution, where you can spend your energy on the creative development of something that stands out, and use relatively cheap online channels to spread the message rather than purchasing expensive TV network time. This is the new wave of advertising - one where ad agencies maintain their niche for developing creative video advertising, but media buying groups are the ones left out."

http://del.icio.us/tag/viral?setcount=100

Coca-Cola Experiments with Viral, Literally

2006-10-25T20:21:00.000-07:00

If you haven't heard, back in June Diet Coke and Mentos launched scientific experiments exploding soda bottles with mentos mints inside of them- 101 bottles of Cokes and over 500 mentos mints to be exact. These were caught on video (seen below), and created a viral phenomenon for both brands.

Well, the sneak preview for their next experiment is already on the loose. Coming October 30, 2006, 500 liters of Coke and over 1500 Mentos mints (see picture on left) will hit Eepybird screens everywhere. Eepybird is the brands'production firm which produces viral videos specifically.

Mentos' parent company, Perfetti Van Melle, was quick to capitalize on the publicity, posting the pair's video on their home page and sending them hundreds of free Mentos candies to continue producing the clips.

But in even fresher news, Coca-Cola, who seemed a bit wary of moving forward in their viral campaign, will be getting closer with Fritz Grobe and Stephen Voltz, the clip's creators, unveiling the "Coca-Cola Challenge." The challenge will ask consumers to submit their own videos, a viral marketing method seen in various degrees (and in previous posts) by Chevrolet, Nike, Levi's, and Guess.

According to an article on MediaPost, the challenge, dubbed "Poetry in Motion," calls on Coke drinkers to create interesting or entertaining videos showing creative uses of everyday household items.

MarktingProfs:DailyFix.com spoke with Nielsen/BuzzMetrics CMO Pete Blackshaw, whose firm monitors word of mouth for Coke, and he said the independent viral video has potential for the company to find marketing ideas from consumers instead of hiring professional agencies do the job. "There's going to be some models where there will be lots of room to extend the creativity," he said. "This is not an established agency, but these guys are off-the-charts creative. Marketers are going to be able to pull from a whole diversity of video."

In regards to the June viral videos of Coke and Mentos, the MediaPost article also mentioned that as of Tuesday, the video has been seen over 6 million times, according to Revver, a video hosting site, and has spawned many immitation clips. Also a recent YouTube search on "Diet Coke and Mentos" turned up 3,282 hits.

Online public relations expert Steve Rubel, of Edelman PR, said that Coca-Cola actually kept its distance for a time until the PR value of the video was proven. "They saw Mentos do it with a similar effort, and they had a chance to watch that and evaluate its success," he said.

Rubel said the move was especially significant because Coke decided to partner with an independent video producer that had essentially taken over the Coca-Cola brand. "Somebody hijacked their brand and turned it into a worldwide phenomenon," Rubel said. "It wasn't negative, but it was certainly something that probably scared them at first."

MediaPost cited that neither Coca-Cola or EepyBird returned calls for comment.

I think Coke is taking a great new twist on the viral video. By first warming the audience up to their Coke-mentos experiments, they have already created a fanbase for the "Coke Challenge" campaign. The contest they have created is interesting and does not allow much room for consumers to sabotage their product as has been done in the past with Chevrolet and Nike. Though for Blackshaw to see this as an opportunity to eliminate using professional creative work, could lead to a bad trend. If this were to happen, other brands would probably follow causing other agencies to forfeit outside creative and consumers to feel used.

On a lighter note, I am certainly looking forward to seeing what happens with the mass experiment on October 30! And I wonder what kind of household items people are going to use in those videos...

Until next time,
Lisa

IBM LAUNCHes A Movie, Coming to A Theater Near You

2006-10-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

"The MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE of AFTer inc Founder and CEO Frank Masters leaves the keys to the kingdom in the hands of one Michael Kendell --a man returning home to the company that started his career. Times change and TROUBLE is the new status quo, as Mike must now survive financial and technical disaster if he's to save this once-great enterprise. But with the help of a brilliant IT Architect and a shadowy "Deep Throat" guide -- Mike will have to UNLOCK THE SECRETS of his business -- ESCAPE DANGER -- and SAVE HIS COMPANY . . . before it's too late." Yes, this is the movie trailer to computer software company, IBM's film, "Launch."

According to The Stalwart, "SOA" which stands for Service Oriented Architecture, is a theme the company implements in all three of its YouTube videos. The videos concisely explain what the theory is and according to an article on SeekingAlpha.com, the production costs involved are miniscule. Learning about the concept takes less than five minutes with the help of these primers.

IBM has set up a Web site for the movie as well. When visiting the site, viewers see the film's three main characters (see picture on the right). To the right of the characters are little clips playing from the film. They also have the option to share it with a friend along with other interactive links.

The movie seems to be about a returning executive who tried to enforce SOA at a distressed company full of mystery. SeekingAlpha.com says is prospectively has "cult film" written all over it and looks far more interesting than most Hollywood fare. The site also suggests IBM could do an online movie release whereby the SOA is used to conquer some pretty tough obstacles- a clever idea.

Senior business executives are likely to scoff at lower-rung employees suggesting such methods. SeekingAlpha judges that the "key take-away" for busy executives is even "respectable" companies can take advantage of the latest online technology and trends.

To get an idea of the company culture of IBM, you can visit their developer blogs here.

Doing something out of the ordinary, like a computer company making a film, is great publicity for the brand name, especially if they do it right. On the movie's Web site, viewers have the option to share it with a friend, as mentioned before, a vital component to viral marketing. The fact that the movie teasers are also on YouTube sets it up for even more viral sharing. As discussed in several previous posts, YouTube is a viral haven for marketers because of its popularity and ease of sharing.

From the looks of things, the movie will probably be some kind of cult for business people, similar to the hype that surrounded Office Space. There are not many creative outlets for the corporate world, so when something like this comes along, people seem to be naturally drawn to it. Perhaps because one cannot understand the corporate business if they do not work in it, and those that do, like to see how other people interperet office life.

Even if not electronically, LAUNCH is sure to spread by word of mouth or light business conversations. I am looking forward to seeing the LAUNCH of the much-talked about movie!
~Lisa

M&M's Goes Dark with the Season

2006-10-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

M&M's Go Dark with the Season

itjustgotdark.com

As Halloween creeps around the corner so is M&M's new dark chocolate. The Mars Company has hired G2 (formerly known as Grey Interactive) to produce a Renaissance-like painting embedded with pictoral riddles each resembling a scary movie- new and old. Of course, some of the familiar M&M people are a part of the guessing game as well, the Green M&M wears a robe as it walks down the stairs, serving as a clue to one scary movie. The Blue one cheesily sports "a ring" around its waste... a corny hint to the thriller, "The Ring."

At approximately 9:30AM, my undergraduate Audience Research class of about 20 students was instructed to visit the dark chocolate M&M's site. Everyone was hooked trying to figure out the names of each movie associated with each scenario until class ended at 9:50AM. That means 20 minutes of brand recognition for M&M's as well and exponentially more people than were in the classroom; the site gives players the option to send the game to a friend. I sent it to one person and if my classmates were so involved, I'm sure they took the 30 seconds of entering an additional name and email to send it to someone too.

The author of this article said they wonder if this technique is the best thing to do to boost user-generated content. Movie blog, cinematical.com, praised the brand's technique saying the game was addicting! Just the plug for the new brand is probably a huge plus, let alone the actual site of hte game.

Any movie fanatic who reads this blog will be informed of M&M's newest flavor and the same goes for anyone reading any other site commenting on the game. A user on photo-sharing site, flickr.com, has even posted a picture of something related to the marketing strategy here.

Thestate.com did several chocolate taste testings. When trying out the M&M dark chocolate line, the user said the only noticeable difference between regular and dark chocolate M&M's were the after taste. They did say, overall, they prefer the dark ones, but in terms of active senses, they did not taste the difference.

I think G2 hit the spot in terms of marketing strategy. The timing, concept, and design are just right for the brand and time of year. The game gets people in the mood for Halloween which is just weeks away and there are millions and millions of people who get a kick out of the fictitious holiday and its scary movies. Commemorating the spooky cinehaunts was a clever way to capture the season because, these films are popular and many will strive to find all the right answers as fast as possible. Heck, I'm not even a big scary movie fan but was still begging my classmates for clues and answers.

Most importantly, players will remember dark chocolate M&M's as the reason they are striving to remember every scary movie they ever saw or heard of, and they will want to share the trivia with their friends. The layout is very unique by using an old look. Making it a competition that tests how fast people get the answers raises the bar even more. People love competition and will put in lots of effort into the site's game just for the dignity of winning! The site's address, itjustgotdark.com is simple, easy to remember, and the perfect way to describe the new branding of an M&M's line as well as the 'out-of-the-ordinary' date in the Fall season.

G2 was definitely on the ball when they thought of what aspects would best get consumers involved with M&M's newest brand, Dark Chocolate.

Don't let the guessing frustration shake you to another site! Some of the clues are just self-explanatory and don't even require that you have seen the movie (i.e. a sign that reads "Elm Street"... go figure). I hate scary movies but was still able to guess more than half of these mini-scenarios! I think that says they really tried to tailor this to as wide of a consumer market as possible in terms of movie knowledge.

~!~ Lisa ~!~

More information retrieved from:

http://www.adjab.com/2006/10/11/mandms-dark-movie-puzzle/

http://www.adrants.com/2006/10/mms-goes-dark-cat-powers-chanel-gen-y-spe.php

Video Game Gears of War Turns to Viral Strategy

2006-10-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

After clicking on this link to the Gears of War Web site, you are prompted to enter your birthday and then immediately brought to a screen black screen. You see a glimpse of a man dressed in army attire in a prison area fighting and the glimpse of a skeleton. You hear chains moving, glass breaking, screaming, a heavy roar, and see a quick flash like a disconnected television screen. All of a sudden the power goes out and the screen is pitch black. Nothing is heard but heavy breathing and footsteps.

"Great, that's the last thing I need," says a male voice, presumably the army man, "Alright, where'd I put those things? There they are. I can't believe this," and a match is lit. The black screen is bordered by a faded red color and there is a skull's head in the top left corner (see picture below).

The match is all you see amongst the blackout, not knowing what will happen next. You have to pay attention to where the match is going because there is hidden text. If you keep watching, another movie is shown and the adventurous saga continues. At the bottom of the page, the viewer is always given the option to send it to a friend (circled in red on the right).

According to Ben Kuchera, a writer on arstechnica.com, Gears of War previously labeled the link as 48HrsExclusiveAccess. He seemed to think the whole thing was a bit creepy, but noted it may simply be designed to get us wondering what will happen in 48 hours. "Maybe a demo?" he suggested.

Now the link is labeled "EmergenceDay," and no demo has surfaced. Many commenters on Kuchera's blog said the game deserves suspensful hype like this. A few speculated this was "the game" to make people buy the XBOX 360 system.

A writer on digg.com said Gears of War has been sending users on the IGN message boards notes on Xbox Live from an account named MFenix, after the main character of Gears of War Marcus Fenix.

This viral strategy for the video game is clever. One user mentioned they had not seen advertisements in print or television for the game, and if this is true, then using only the big viral concept would make sense. People that play video games like the interaction and this form of marketing allows them to experience that same experience. It also manages to grab the target market's attention succinctly. I do not like scary/spooky movies or games so this did not appeal to me, but someone that likes adventure, action, suspense, and spooky scenarios would probably love something like this. From a quantitative study on video game players conducted in a Quantitative Mass Media Research Methods class last year, fellow project members and I found males are more likely to play video games than females and are more into games with blood and war than females. That being said, this viral ad definitely identifies with the mass male video game market.

I only hope XBox will come out with a fun, colorful, non-spooky, viral-friendly video game for players like me!

~Lisa

The Government Wants to Regulate Viral Marketing

2006-10-12T19:35:00.000-07:00

Just as businesses are warming up to the hottest marketing trend, viral marketing, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is stepping in.

"When self restraint is not exercised and anonymity becomes the driving force to create buzz cool, the Federal Trade Commission gets busy," according to Kyle Elyse Niederpruem, President of Kyle Communications, Inc.

Marketing strategies pulled on YouTube, such as the ones discussed in previous posts like Smirnoff's Tea Partay and Lonelygirl15 (pictured right), have caught the attention of the FTC who, on its Web site, says it will be "examining changes that have occured in marketing and technology over the past decade and garner experts' views on coming challenges and opportunities for consumers, businesses, and governmental bodies."

But according to Niederpruem's article on InsideIndianaBusiness.com, even the government is guilty of using YouTube to post PSAs from the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Companies, small and large, are attracted to this channel of media because it's no-cost, no-frills and helps control media buying budgets. It also gives that "grassroots" feel to their content because of its ability to be authored anonymous.

Michael De Kort, a 41-year-old Lockheed Martin engineer (pictured below) used the open-source video Web site to speak his mind on a company issue when authorities (his bosses, Congress) would not listen. Most would think he invited FTC scrutiny more than anyone else. De Kort posted a ten-minute video on YouTube alleging possible security flaws in Coast Guard patrol boats. Well this time 108,872 people listened after several years of others failing to listen. He scored with an audience he would have never reached before YouTube.

Niederpruem writes in her article on InsideIndianaBusiness.com:

"His concerns have now caught the attention of top investigators including Homeland Security, defense trade publications and members of Congress. But even consumer watchdog groups were in disagreement about De Kort’s tell-all video. Some called it “brave.” Others said it was like being “the serious guy in a room full of clowns.”"

De Kort was fired for financial reasons, according to Lockheed Martin, but he says it was because of retaliation. No one expected the "whistleblower" to use the site to 'toot his horn' so to speak. Though, he did note the downside, according to the article, “I am still actively looking for employment.”

You can listen to what Michael De Kort had to say here.

According to InsideIndianaBusiness.com,
"Ad Age Daily reports there are some industry guidelines floating around, such as a program called Ad-ID, which is supposed to create a “unified system of tagging marketing materials in an electronic form whenever they might appear.”

“Executives close to the program said agency members are not all on board with the standardized tagging initiative for a variety of reasons, one of which might be that those viral videos need to remain anonymous to be effective,” ADD reported.

This is a move everyone should have seen coming from the FTC at this point. With the recent uproar of mainstream advertisers like Subway and Smirnoff (pictured above) using the site to generate hype or experiment on their ad campaigns, regulations were bound to be set. I can see YouTube potentially getting out of hand, and with the open priveleges it gives to users, it was inevitable that someone like Michael De Kort was going to abuse them.

Companies should not abuse the free, high-reach opportunities of the Web site because it could eventually drown out the independent users who really are there to "Broadcast Yourself," as YouTube's tagline reads. YouTube says more than 70 million videos are viewed on the site daily, and one of the reasons the site is so popular is because it is free and allows for personal expression through original videos thus connecting people with similar interests.

In fact, YouTube is so community-based, that not even its $1.65 billion purchase by Google can destroy the brand.

YouTube said they will "retain its distinct brand identity, strengthening and complementing Google’s own fast-growing video business. YouTube will continue to be based in San Bruno, CA, and all YouTube employees will remain with the company. With Google’s technology, advertiser relationships and global reach, YouTube will continue to build on its success as one of the world's most popular services for video entertainment."

The merge will probably prove more effective for advertisers utilizing both sites to advertise but also calls for stronger regulations now that both powerhouses will expand. This means a larger reach for both sites. That being said, a guiding hand by the FTC may actually be a better turn for the future of viral marketing.

Hearings begin November 6.

~Lisa

Renting A House: Now A Laughing Matter

2006-10-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

Move Out and Move Up! That's what ING Direct, the nation's largest direct bank, is advising its target market of first time home buyers. The company has created a viral marketing-filled Web site highlighting all the negatives of renting an apartment and turning them into humorous situations. In the meantime, it promotes their product, the "Orange Mortgage," allegedly one of the most flexible and effective mortgage products on the market today.

The site is especially prone to sharing because it holds a hidden secret mortgage offer that effectively reduces the costs of closing (when on the Orange Mortgage) to zero. First time buyers save a significant chunk of change against the cost of a mortgage and all they have to do is pass along these links! What makes it so virally friendly is the "Send to a friend" link displayed on every page and all throughout every game and video. Users are then simply prompted to enter their name, email, friends' emails, a message, and "send."

To reinforce the "Orange" mortgage, whenever the viewer clicks to view a new page, orange covers the page before it changes. Under the link "Move up!" it encourages "tenants everywhere to reunite!" providing a motivational blurb about buying a home ending with "Buying a home is the largest investment you will probably make. It is a profitable one. Translation: Even more money in your pocket." Underneath are two links, ">Where do I start?" and ">Make your mortgage Orange."

Fun features include content, video clips, and games depicting the humorous and often frustrating side of renting. One game, "Avoid the Neighbors" (see picture to the left), has the player pick four stereotypical nuisance neighbors. Four instance, one neighbor, "The Party Girl(the woman with a tiara)," is given two out of five stars for her avoidance factor and described as:

"This neighborly nuisance always seems to have some event planned. A fund-raiser, a housewarming, her dog's birthday. Anything that happens to this neighbor deserves a twenty-dollar cover, a donation, and six drinks. Decline her invitation always." Another game includes the "Before/After Photo" under the link "moving in together." It is a cute game that shows photos of separate areas of the house- one before and one after photo. The player must circle the spots that have been changed and the goal is to do it as fast as possible. This game is enjoyable and to the point where as the "Avoid the Neighbors" game was difficult to catch on to the schematics at first and even a little difficult!

Some of the video scenarios include:
* "Tea With Grandma" - A young woman is entertaining her grandmother at tea in her apartment; meanwhile its "mating season" for her noisy next door neighbors. Will grandma notice?
* "Doggy at the Door" - Ever notice how the neighbor with the loudest dog is always away for hours at a time? Witness a fed up neighbor's handling of a situation where Fido's bark is definitely worse than his bite.
* Elevator - Harried moms everywhere will recognize the daily battle with...the Elevator.
* Smelly Boyfriend - A romantic dinner for a couple in their less than spacious apartment takes an unfortunate turn, with smelly consequences.

The campaign is a collaborative effort involving members of the ING DIRECT marketing team, Canadian advertising firm GWP Brand Engineering, and New York advertising firm Creative Priority.

Highlights of the Orange Mortgage include:

* Great rates on loans with as little as 5% down.
* Allowance for gifts to be used as down payments.
* 90 day rate guarantee.
* $695 Closing Costs - Transparent closing costs that are comparably inexpensive.

In-depth consumer benefits are further explained on the Web site as well. In summary, the Web site is full of animated moving objects and bright colors. It really gives off an optimistic view of buying a first house and kind of settles those jitters people may get when even thinking of the matter. I think using the colors blue and orange was clever because they are fun and non-abrupt. I also enjoy the 3D graphics and numerous pop-up java type links (i.e. roll mouse over a window and the tag "Oh Baby!" jumps out.

My only criticism was there were no directions for the games and visitors can get frustrated if they cannot figure out how to play- no matter how easy it may seem to the creator. I definitely think the idea of ALWAYS giving site viewers the option to send every page to a friend is a brilliant viral tactic. It is also important to note that while ING makes the site a fun one, it still manages to communicate its product in a responsible, attractive, and enticing way!

Though I am not a first-time home buyer at the moment, if I were, I think I would definitely want to use this site as a resource.

For now, maybe I have learned better tactics to avoid my neighbors in a physical sense, but behind closed doors they may be virtual key players in a viral strategic campaign like this one: passing along games and contests to all their wonderful neighor friends!

Until next time!

~!~ Lisa ~!~

Faces to Watch... On Your Watch?

2006-10-04T23:04:00.000-07:00

GUESS Watches has launched an international campaign, "Faces to Watch," searching for a new male and female model for its brand. When visiting the Faces to Watch Web site, which is a viral goldmine (see picture above), the viewer sees the masthead "Faces to Watch: The Ultimate Global Model Search" with a link underneath that reads "APPLY NOW." To the immediate left of this link is a box that says "Watch this!" with two simple links underneath that read "Watch the Movie Now" and "Send it to Your Friends."

The viral marketing efforts have produced significant results:

* Over 100,000,000 hits surpassed (according to PR Newswire 10/2/06) since its launch in August.
* Over 45,000 online registrations from around the world

Their use of customization was a small but clever part of the campaign. Most notably, the movie shown to site visitors asks them to enter their name and email. They never receive an email so it must be a way for GUESS to compile a customized email list of prospective consumers. The mini-movie portrays a modern "Cinderella" scenario (see picture above). It shows an attractive man driving a jaguar and then cuts to a sexy female woman wearing a rather revealing outfit washing the floor and of course, sporting her Guess watch.

In the middle of her seemingly seductuous cleaning, she manages to whip out her Nokia phone and text the viewer (see picture below) to "save" her, and signs it "Cindy" (could it be short for... "Cinderella?!").

Once the sleek man saves the innocent permiscuous woman from a lady dressed in dark costume, probably representing "the evil stepmother," the video ends and viewers are prompted to invite a friend.

Twenty-five year old brand design and marketing agency, Doublespace, has launched 31 Web sites to support the two-year global marketing campaign which has steadily grown in traffic, page views, and average page view time.

Jane Kosstrin, Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Doublespace, said "It was an extraordinary collaboration with the GUESS Watches' team that enabled us in just under six months to produce a robust integrated campaign platform including (31) web sites, viral marketing programs, prints ads, outdoor, in- store and other targeted promotional programs."

Advertising directed toward the contest will appear in 37 editions of ELLE Magazine plus additional global publications including Cleo, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and more. In-store and outdoor materials developed in 24 languages include counter cards with take-one brochures, posters, banners, and bus wraps.

Ten men and ten women finalists will be selected by GUESS?, Inc. co-chairman, co-chief executive officer, Paul Marciano, and flown to a gala weekend in Basel, Switzerland in April 2007. At the event, one male and one female will be announced as the new GUESS Watch models. The winners will receive extensive coverage including:

* Featured in an ad campaign in ELLE Magazine in fall of 2007
* Featured in the GUESS Watches' 2007 holiday catalogue
* Point-of-sale advertising in over 20,000 locations worldwide

Doublespace is no new face to GUESS as they previously worked on the successful GUESS Watches' Timeless Beauty model search to deliver worldwide promotional opportunities incorporating key marketing elements and expanded media. Doublespace Chief Strategy Officer, Ross Anderson, cites this as the basis for advancing a second successful program with GUESS. The Timeless Beauty campaign did not utilize viral marketing opportunities as much as the recent "Faces" one.

I am not surprised the campaign has received such incredible feedback considering its ease of sharing, one of the most important characteristics of a viral campaign. Links to invite friends are provided in simple and obvious ways and probably take users no longer than 10 seconds to complete. Plus, the incentive is remarkable and the application is minimal, increasing the chances of candidates. The movie is a cute feature and makes the site more fun and interesting. I think it could have done without the sexual camera views taken of the woman washing the floor (scanning her bare legs, a bird's eye view of her seemingly humping the floor), but like most marketers, GUESS probably decided "sex sells." And the brand tends to portray a sexual ambience in its advertising, so at least it was not out of the brand's personality. Overall, I think this viral strategy is definitely a "Face to Watch" among others due to its aesthetic appeal and simplicity.

Until we are struck again,

Lisa!

Levi's is Jean-ius!

2006-09-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Levi's recently came out with a television advertising campaign where a young man in his 20's is watching television with his girlfriend when he witnesses someone stealing his Levi's jeans from his clothing line on the news. This was produced by advertising agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty/New York. He runs outside and tackles the man in order to get them back, and succeeds! YOU can now become any of the characters: the man with the jeans, the girlfriend, or the robber!

When starring in your own jean commercial, much like the familiar face above, consumers feel special and excited. Personiva (Personalizing Brand Experiences) has made this possible "by adapting the creative from a brand's national advertising to a Web-based campaign that consumers can insert themselves into," according to DMNews.com. Personiva's first campaign was in July for Hewlett Packard- a program still on HP's Web site- letting users create their own ad from multiple components, including images they upload themselves, for a result that is along the same lines as HP's national TV ad campaign. There was no incentive to share the consumer productions but according to Art Schram, product manager for Personiva, site traffic did and continues to increase. Just like Chevrolet Tahoe had done, explained in a previous post, in the past few years, more companies have asked consumers to create their own ads and submit them online. The incentive is usually that the best ones will appear in a national ad campaign.

Well companies that use Personiva's strategy will not run into the problems companies like Chevrolet and Nike experienced. As Art Schram, product manager for Personiva, San Francisco puts it, "[It]allows for a much deeper level of user engagement, which advertisers appreciate with consumers TiVo-ing out commercials."

The greatest thing about this viral campaign, is not only can you send it to your friends but after creating an ad, the use is informed that once three people have viewed the ad, he or she will receive free shipping on any purchase of $75 or more at Levi's e-commerce site, www.levisstore.com. The great thing about challenging them to share it with three people is that the virality is much greater than if you share it with only one, Schram pointed out. This is Personiva's first try with incentives for sharing consumers' creations.

After uploading one or more pictures, they can replay the ad with the photos inserted as the characters. They also can add on-screen text to tell their own version of the story. A second commercial will be added soon, Mr. Schram said, and both will run on Levi's site at least through November.

To avoid the consumer creative disasters that have occured in the past, Levi's, San Francisco, aimed to allow consumers to personally experience the brand without diluting its message.

"We just didn't create a forum for expression," he said. "It is much more controlled than that, and the essence of what Levi's is trying to communicate remains intact."

I love the idea that Personiva and Levi's have come up with. It allows for much creativity with no room for negativity. In fact, with an award at hands actually related to the purchase of the product, it encourages Levi's consumption as well as the motivation to make the most tasteful ad possible. It is also very humorous, people love seeing their faces on someone else's body, I think even moreso than an ad they created entirely themselves. Its comparable to when people put someone they dislike, like George Bush for some for example, and place it on another's body, like the devil, for instance. People love passing those kinds of things around for laughts and the same theory applies here. Or even kids doing it and sending it to their parents saying, "Hey Mom! Look! I'm on TV! I'm starring in a commercial" I get a kick just thinking about the excitement.

Plus, the whole idea of fitting yourself into any character in the commercial can be compared to levi's brand strategy of having a size and style for every person. Though, in the commercials they are advertising the 501 Original Jeans which are "straight through the seat, thigh and leg." Users can "wear true to size or size up for a looser fit." Even this jean has room for flexibility and style according to each individual which shows the commercial can go a variety of ways!

For now, I'm going to go my way.

I am so ecstatic to hear you will be starring in the next Levi's commercial, you have no idea! Ah, how in-jean-ius!

Until next time!

Lisa

"Communication Evolved"

2006-09-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

Since I posted last week, "communication evolved"- that's my excuse for the posting delay folks, I'm sorry. Yes, according to Windows Live Messenger "careless messaging costs lives." Wow, good thing I'm okay. They say with this new messenger they can eliminate "the number of fatalities from interacting with friends and colleagues to a big fat zero."

Windows Live Messenger of the 2006 Microsoft Corporation has taken all instant messenging problems from the past and created an effective service like no other. The new messenger features sending messages to people who are offline, calling their phones (at an "affordable" price) or their PC's (Free!), simple massive folder sharing, and talking to Yahoo! contacts as well. The way contacting someone offline works is the Windows service fully delivers the message as soon as the person signs on, that way you don't have to wait hours for them yourself.

When visiting the link above, Internet users can find three links to separate clips about the harms that have occured before Windows Live Messenger was developed. They are pretty serious: heavy papers being dropped from a high story in an office building, a man receiving a letter in an empty glass bottle and then aimlessly chucking it (hitting another person), and a lady setting papers and herself on fire. But my descriptions simply are not enough, you need to see these commercials to really understand the life/death situations Windows Messenger has created in terms of their product usage. By showing these life-threatening scenarios, Windows Live Messenger is trying to play up its utmost benefits relative to each clip.

And of course the viral component of it all: in the bottom left hand corner of the homepage, one can "tell a friend." When you click the link, it opens up Microsoft Outlook (surprise, surprise considering Microsoft has created the new messenger) and a pre-written message for the friend that reads:

"Hello there,

I just discovered this great site and wanted to share it with you! Find out how you can join the communication evolution and say 'yes' to pain free messaging!

www.communicationevolved.com"

Say 'Yes' to pain free messaging - LITERALLY - in terms of their advertising campaign! Personally, I think some of the life-harming commercials are a bit too strong. The feautures of the new messenger are rather exceptional and there are various other ways to communicate them. The over-the-top human injury bits touch my comical but also serious spot as well. The one with a man chucking a glass bottle at another is probably meant to made me gasp aloud in the silent library as I did. And it certainly got its attention's worth- here I am writing about it! Perhaps the advertisers were thinking the campaign would be so stupid and crazy that people woudl find it funny, kind of like the movie "Snakes on a Plane," but in this case, there is a fine line between humor and stupidity.

I happen to agree with the Adverblog writer who wrote "I don't feel such videos are really viral." Their reasons for the statement were that the videos "nice and entertaining, and work pretty well to promote the product, but just because they are amusing it doens't mean they are able to generate word-of-mouth."

I think they are not viral worthy because should someone link to one of the videos, I don't think they would understand how the situation relates to the new instant messenger. I think the only "wow" factor is the fact that people are being seriously injured, and that is not a positive one. Another problem is that the concept of the commercials and the features of the messenger seem too unrelated. Everyone knows that no matter how ineffectively you use an instant messenger, it most likely will not have a physically harmful impact.

Let's hope the next virus doesn't carry any life-threatening issues!

Until then, make sure to stay pain-free (even if that does mean using the new windows messenger)!

Lisa

What Happens When Viral Marketing Flops

2006-09-21T09:24:00.002-07:00

This is one of the advertisements spread throughout the Internet from Chevrolet Tahoe's consumer generated campaign.

Viral Marketing Gone Bad

In April 2006, Chevrolet Tahoe in cooperation with the show, "The Apprentice," tried their hands at a consumer advertising competition. Visitors to the Web site were given existing video clips and music, and the creative power to insert their own words and produce a customized 30-second commercial for the 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe.

As Julie Bosman of the NY Times put it:

"At first glance, the video looks like a typical 30-second car commercial: a shiny sport utility vehicle careers down a country road lined with sunflower fields, jaunty music playing in the background.

Then, white lettering appears on the screen: "$70 to fill up the tank, which will last less than 400 miles. Chevy Tahoe."

Inspired by Rohit Bhargava's "5 Signs Your Viral Marketing May Flop," this is what I would like to call "A Virus Malfunction." Of course, the goal of this campaign was to use the power of viral marketing to have people create their own videos and then spread them by the masses. Well, the power of viral marketing did indeed take full effect except it attracted a negative crowd. The most popular ones attacked the S.U.V. for using too much gas mileage. Take this one for example:

We see a sweeping view of the Tahoe driving through a desert. "Our planet's oil is almost gone," it said. "You don't need G.P.S. to see where this road leads."

To watch the commercials you won't get on TV, CINet has them here. Unfortunately, one of them, "Snakes on a SUV," is no longer available for showing.

Now Chevrolet had three options: Keep the ads up, take them down, or keep them up but take action.

Chevrolet pokeswoman, Melisa Tezanos, told the "Times," the company was not going to pull the anti-S.U.V. ads.

"We anticipated that there would be critical submissions," Ms. Tezanos said. "You do turn over your brand to the public, and we knew that we were going to get some bad with the good. But it's part of playing in this space."

Drew Neisser, President and CEO of Renegade Marketing, said
consumer-generated advertising is the hottest trend right now. He said companies
want to try it out so badly they are willing to take the risk of
negative publicity. He also thinks Chevy could have anticipated the
backfire. "Were they really expecting the consumer to make nice and
create very pleasant movies?" he asked. "If they were, they haven't looked
at anything on YouTube."

On socialcustomer.com, user Carl said, "I don't understand how otherwise
rational people look at this campaign as a positive. It would be like
letting people create print ads for McDonalds, and publishing all of the
ads that talk about cholesterol, fat, calories, carbohydrates and fat
kids. And then patting themselves on the back for letting people 'speak
their mind' and for 'understanding social networking.' This campaign can
only damage the brand by reinforcing the negatives. Isn't this marketing
101? The best GM can hope for is to convince all of the people who already
hate the product that GM is a cool company with products they hate."

And this was not the first time viral marketing took a plunge to
doomsville. In 2001, Nike allowed users to customize their own shoes
bearing a phrase or word and post it on their Web site. Well, one user,
Jonah Peretti, wrote "Sweatshop" on the side of his shoes and attempted to order them as well. Nike rejected the order and Jonah wrote an email which he sent to 12 of his friends. The e-mail spread all over the world and Nike pulled the campaign from the site.

Companies like JetBlue and Sony also like to toy with user-generated
content because they feel it reaches their young, tech-savvy consumer
market who will tell all their friends.

Mastercard and Converse have proven to be successful at generating
user-produced content. Mastercard let consumers write advertising copy
for two filmed commercials. They had to fill in four lines of dialogue
ending with the kicker, "Priceless." Converse let customers send homemade commercials to "conversegalery.com" and attracted 1,500 submissions; several made it to national television and generated buzz on the Web.

To avoid becoming the next Chevy Tahoe disaster, Bhargava has 5 tips in which I will summarize and add my own input to as well.

1. Consider the number of people who can have a negative impact on your brand.
People who hate you are louder than the people who like you. Think about it- when you are dissatisfied with a product/service, you will most likely write a letter or speak with the manager. Well, when you are happy, do you go out of
your way to compliment? Probably not. That being said, Chevy could have
foreseen the anti-SUV groups that potentially take advantage of their
open-ended commercials. As well as the fact that most SUV owners are ashamed of their car choice.

2. If it's not 'sexy, funny, controversial, or voyeuristic'-
don't think anything else will make it a hit.
As Bhargava says,
"If you can't honestly look at your program and say that it fits one of
these four categories, make some changes or risk boring consumers and
wasting your marketing budget."

3. Make the message as easy as possible to pass along.

Timing is everything in today's world and people do not have the patience to waste it on passing around extraneous articles. Bhargava writes, "Billboards, events, or stunts can all have a creative concept that could be viral, but if customers have no easy way to spread the word about your promotion, you should think twice about whether it will truly be effective."

4. Focus on the strategy, not just the tactic.
Burger
King, for instance, came up with href="http://www.subservientchicken.com/">Subservient Chicken, a human
dressed up as a chicken doing whatever the user commands it to through the
keyboard. This did not reintegrate the strategy, message, or brand. It
was a creative idea someone fell in love with and wanted to do, despite
its discorrelation to the product. Mastercard is a perfect example of the
right way to integrate the viral component into the brand's campaign.

5. Do not overly brand your product.
Viral marketing
focuses on creativity through content. Sometimes marketers get scared
that the creativity won't be enough and feel the need to write their name
all over the message. If people are intrigued by your campaign, they will
find out who's behind it.

I truly believe if, as a marketer, you abide by these guidelines, you will reduce the chances for "a virus malfunction". Make friends, not enemies people!

Now that I've spread my insights, think about sharing them!

Stay tuned for more virus mania coming your way!

Lisa

It's Time to Monk-E Around!

2006-09-21T09:24:00.001-07:00

People use careerbuilder.com, the number one job site for traffic and popularity according to Workforce Magazine and consumersearch.com, to accomplish serious career related activities like finding jobs and posting resumes. Dealing with pressing career issues, especially with the largest number of job listings at 1.5 million, the site has found a way to try and get prospective employees minds off things.

Above, you can see the beautiful chimp in the right hand corner as my newest creation (courtesy of careerbuilder.com); I've named her Wilma.

They've provided a "break" from the intense search for your "perfect cubicle" by creating "Build Your Monk-E-Mail."

When visiting the site, the user goes through five steps:
1. Choose Your Office Chimp (The Boss, Co-worker, or Receptionist)
2. Pick out headgear, clothes, stuff for them to hold, glasses, and an environment.
3. Add audio (record by phone, mic, use their pre-recorded version, or type text to speech)
4. Preview
5. Forward Your "Monk-E-Mail" to a friend!

I think careerbuilder's strategy for viral marketing is right-on-point! Reinforcing the previous post about about what makes viral marketing a hit- it is funny and voyeuristic, two of the necessary characteristics for viral success. It's also easy to pass along, touches careerbuilder's brand in a lighthearted way, and has only one banner displaying careerbuilder.com's authorship. To give careerbuilder.com even more brownie points, they have created complimentary humorous advertisements to go along with the whole "office monkey" concept. If you check them out here you will see how the company influences people to find a better job on the nation's largest job network. I think everyone loves being creative, and its cute things like these every office environment and search job junkie needs a bit of to get through the day.

And careerbuilder.com is not the only company capitalizing on office humor.

ScriptThis.TV has launched a series of open-edit scripts written by none other than you, the consumer. Another form of viral marketing, you can watch the newest video here and tell a friend.

As Rohit Bhargava , Vice President for Ogilvy Interactive Public Relations, puts it, office humor has been evolving since Scott Adam Dilbert's cartoons in 1989. Having had four internships, three of which were in office environments, I can certainly relate to the dry days, careless bosses, and office politics that circle the work environment.

Apparently, I'm not alone. NBC's The Office, one of their newest hit shows, is a prime example of how much people love to indulge in office humor. Not to mention the movies Office Space, and "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle." Both focus on the overpowering, underbearing, and the life and the minds of these cubicle-inhibiters when the nine to five hits after hours.

All this talk about cubicles and hard-work is making me want to take a break! I challenge you to create your best monkey employee ever and show them to the world! And yes, it is okay to give into your desire to munch on a banana while doing so ;)

Until we are struck by another virus,

Lisa!

Smirnoff brings a 'tea partay' to the viral world

2006-09-16T17:54:00.001-07:00

'"Drop this video on a chum" is apparently the new way to say "send this to your friends" according to www.teapartay.com, the homepage for Smirnoff's Raw Tea product, their new malt beverage. The teapartay Web site hosts a music video, also featured on YouTube, a video file sharing site, featuring a group called the "Prep Unit" or "P-Unit," similar to rapper 50 Cent's troupe "G-Unit." Three preppy male white rappers with Ivy league attire and popped collars rap about throwing a tea party which marketingvox.com places under the oxymoron genre of "preppy hip-hop." They also try to "pimp" themselves toward preppy white girls with pearl earrings and sweaters lingering over their shoulders tied around their necks.

Produced by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the clip reached half a million views on YouTube within a week of its premiere. The video is a branch of the product's traditional campaign with billboards and radio ads in the Northeast. Music video veteran Julien Christian of HSI Production directed the film which spits out lines like "Raw Tea in the Parlor makes the ladies holler..." and "We may be vanilla, but our labs our chocolate..."

The firm wants to capitalize on the motion picture's success by adding a "tea partay" manual to the site along with various other promotions. As you enter the site, it asks for your age and country of origin, then proceeds to tell you "Hold up, we're loading, playa." Some people found the campaign a bit offensive saying the "hip-hop" terminology being used by preppy white boys was a mockery. For those who don't know what a prep is, the site has the "prepsta guide" available for download.

Fellow blogger, William I Lengeman. III managed to find the distributor's Web site which said, ""Smirnoff takes natural raw tea brewed in a premium malt beverage that is then ice-filtered five times to create a powerfully smooth, infinitely refreshing taste that is naturally loaded with flavor! Smirnoff Raw Tea is now available in three tasty flavors that are sure to be a treat for your taste buds; lemon, peach and raspberry."

It is certainly obvious who the brand is targeting to: wealthy white males and females of college age. This is the market that would most likely understand the terminology used in the video and enjoy its humor. Some have taken offense to the video, saying it is a mockery of hip-hop culture. Others may find it so stupid that its plain funny.

I, personally, happen to find the lyrics clever, but they don't seem to tickle my funny bone enough to make me laugh out loud. As for the concept of it all, I do find it extremely stereotyped which is why many people may take it as a joke. I think without the crazy advertising, I would wonder, what does alcoholic tea taste like? Most people's reactions are probably not positive so this campaign is one way to draw people's minds away from the taste and more into the "culture" of the brand. I have to admit, its a pretty smart idea, but whether the product itself would be successful without "dropping the video on a chum," that is another other story.

Until we find another virus,

Lisa

Link references for this post:
http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2006/08/11/bbh_viral_vid_for_smirnoff_raw_tea_takes_off/index.php

http://wileng.blogspot.com/2006/08/smirnoff-raw-tea-partay.html
http://www.teapartay.com
http://leighhouse.typepad.com/advergirl/

Lonelygirl15 is about to be spread around...

2006-09-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

Bree, also known as "lonelygirl15," is the Internet entertainment world's newest gossip. There are several streaming mystery episodes in which viewers tag along on the 16-year old homeschooler's adventures. How exciting!

Well, fans were so upset to find out these video diaries were a hoax that they went ahead and made their own videos expressing their disappointment. Her creators soon went public and revealed that the episodes are all an experiment in storytelling. The videos began appearing on MySpace, a popular social networking Web site owned by FOX, and YouTube, a video file sharing Web site, in June. Here's what the writers had to say...

As verbatim in the MSNBC.com news article,

"Rather, they intended to begin posting elements of the story online and then incorporate reactions and suggestions from fans into the plot.
The result was part video game, where viewers exercise some measure of control over the characters, and part mystery novel, complete with hidden clues and cliffhanger chapters that left viewers wanting more."

***Here's the VIRAL part of it all:
Bree lives on! Her adventures are going to CONTINUE on a new Web site in cooperation with the online syndication network, Revver. The company helps make video-makers compensate for their work by selling ads that are attatched to each video. Revver then shares the compensation with the producers and writers of whatever little movie.

Well, what I have to say is how interesting! This is similar to the idea of Wikipedia where viewers can actually have an input on how things are going and the way they are being structured. I think this could get really big, this whole idea of letting the viewers have input into what happens next, people LOVE interaction: look at American Idol, a singing competition where the audience can view for their favorite singer. It is now in its sixth season and still going strong and it would not be out-of-the ordinary to say an option for audience participation has helped!

In one aspect its creepy because the video shooting is done so well but yet its supposed to be a "webcam." I also kind of feel like I am invading Bree's personal space or atleast she is invading mine, but like many girls, I love the gossip aspect of it. And in terms of viral, heck, I'm ready to go watch some more and send it off to all my friends because all this media coverage about the behind-the-scenes work makes it that much more interesting to watch.

Some information provided by http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14816502/wid/11915829&GT1=8596.

Next thing we know, we'll have a case of "The-Bree."

I know, corny joke.

Lisa

Test Post

2006-08-30T06:45:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Today is the first day of Audience Research with Kim Gregson.

Sincerely,
Lisa