DUCARMOIS Baptiste January 2013

English Presentation

The viral marketing

Van Nitsen Charlotte

3rd E-Business Condorcet – Negundo

DUCARMOIS Baptiste January 2013

SommaireDefinition............................................................................................................................................3

Introduction.......................................................................................................................................3

How does it work?..............................................................................................................................3

Objectives and inconvenances...........................................................................................................4

Steps for a good viral campaign.........................................................................................................5

Make it simple................................................................................................................................5

Make it relevant.............................................................................................................................5

Create sales opportunities..............................................................................................................5

Use the right technology................................................................................................................5

Reflect the brand............................................................................................................................5

Word of mouse...............................................................................................................................6

Reward the user.............................................................................................................................6

Questions...........................................................................................................................................7

Sources...............................................................................................................................................7

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DUCARMOIS Baptiste January 2013

Definition“Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networking services and other technologies to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (such as product sales) through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses or computer viruses (cf. Internet memes and memetics). It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the network effects of the Internet and mobile networks”1

Introduction« Viral » marketing is a reference to the word « Virus », because information grows as fast as a virus.

Since the internet development, high speed internet became cheaper. With web 2.0, this new phenomenon is growing pretty fast.

Nowadays, distrust regarding advertising increases. One of the interests of buzz marketing is the recommendation of a friend or family, because it takes more and more importance in the final buying decision process.

How does it work?

Viral marketing must be dynamic. It needs that customers want to answer, click, and share your message.2

Examples :

e-mailing campains Games and contests Blogs, informative websites,… Provide discounts E-cards

Objectives and inconvenancesThe main objective of viral marketing is, of course, to attract new customers. It should also help with the E-reputation, if the campaign is well done… Buzz marketing can also be dangerous. You could

1 Howard, Theresa (2005-06-23). "USAToday: Viral advertising spreads through marketing plans". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-05-27. June 23, 2005, 2005

2 Le Journal du Management (2003), Lancement produit : La fièvre du marketing viral, Le Journal du Net 2003.

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DUCARMOIS Baptiste January 2013

totally miss your objectives and create a wrong buzz. If you are not careful, a buzz could happen before you understand why and how it happened.

“La Redoute” – January 2013

Customers could also alter the main message, just for fun or to create the bad buzz (from a competitor company). The marketers should be careful about commercial laws, even if a viral marketing campaign should not be legally dangerous, some campaigns could touch the personal data rules.

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La Redoute published a picture of children on the beach. That looks classic, but if you look behind the children, you will see a man standing on the right, totally nude. You can easily imagine how bad the unwanted buzz was.

The way the direction of the company turns it to something good is incredible and shows how a bad buzz can be turn to a good one.

They asked their customers to help them finding mistakes hidden into their catalogs, as “we found a lot! You could help us, we will give a present to every first to find”

DUCARMOIS Baptiste January 2013

Steps for a good viral campaign

Make it simple

You should explain the campaign in less than 10 seconds, because people don’t want to read lot of instructions. You also have to know what kind of viral marketing campaign you want to develop. So make it simple, short, and clear!

Make it relevant

The campaign must appeal to the vast majority of people to make a successful viral campaign. For example, a funny or sexy content has the fastest viral development because it reflects very well on the target.

The success will mostly depend on the quality of the initial execution and the way used to spread it.

Create sales opportunities

Even if you made the best viral campaign ever, if people didn't get what you sell or even who you are, you won't earn any money! The first goal of a marketing campaign is to make money by increasing selling. Don’t forget to leave a voucher and/or links to your products.

Use the right technology

The technology used behind the campaign need to be strong to support the viral spread. You need to use small file sizes, dedicated servers,... If you don't have as bandwidth as required to continue, your whole campaign could be missed. You need to ensure you can manage the virus spread even if it is a worldwide success.

You also need to choose how you want to spread your message. Emailing campaign? Blogs? It’s up to you!

Reflect the brand

The main problem with most campaigns is people remember the message, but they can't tell you which brand created it. Your company must be easy to recognize, and the main message has to fit to the brand's values. You should also pay attention to your previously used messages, because the new one needs to go to the same direction.

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Word of mouse

The existing potential in message exposure can far exceed possibilities offered by commercial media channels with the same budget. The word of mouse is one of the most interressant point of viral marketing. Without spending an euro, your message could reach the other side of the planet. It's also interresting to see how it can help people to approve a brand by like-minded consumers. The brand could receive a certain credibility from the target audience.

Reward the userPeople are interested if they can win something, or even receive a reduction or a voucher from their participations. They have to get some form of reward. Customers will receive a high motivation value due to the benefits they would receive.

Top 10 campaigns

Here is a list of the 10 best viral marketing campaigns ever made. The order is totally objective. It’s up to you to choose your favorites!

10) Nike: Touch of Goldhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_JS1YG8H2c

Nike made this ad with Ronaldinho Gaucho, one of the biggest football stars from the last decade, and even from all time. The video shows him receiving a new pair of shoes. Then, he just spends 2 minutes to see if it fits. As the few 25 million people saw this video, I would say it fits pretty well to him! The genius of this video is you can’t really know if he really does what he seems to do. The viral effect coming after is impressive.

9) Getty Images: From Love To Bingohttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7xc7J8bdsU

This ad is kind of original. It’s not a movie, but only pictures, 873 exactly, in under a minute. It shows an entire story, within a line of dialog. Good job from Getty Images specialized in high quality pictures.

8) Toyota : The new Corolla http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZfkSAQWz9E

Cat haters should love this 90 seconds spot! You will see a fat cat trying to find a way to ride the brand new Corolla. And it worked…

7) Quicksilver: Dynamite Surfinghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR_naKxLEPc

Even if we know those guys are actors and professionals, even if we know the area is safe, this video has spread faster than others. It takes no more than a month to reach the 10 million views! Let's be honest, even if we are not surf addicted: that's impressive!

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6) Transports for London: Do the testhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4

This is one of the best campaigns of 2008, not only referring to viral ones. Just less than 4 million people have viewed this video in the first 3 months. It made a world buzz even if it’s been made for English people, and more precisely for Londoners. It tests yourself and your senses. The effect is most people don’t see the bear on the first view, so they then want to share it and know if friends saw it!

5) Taxbrain.com : stolen Nascarhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni-JFeDYBWg

The Taxbrain’s marketers have to be inventive, as promoting a website about taxes is not easy. I think we can say that one is pretty original, and creative! The video should help to understand how well done the job was. The name and logo of the brand is nearly always on the screen, as we saw on “steps for a good viral campaign”. The idea of a “stolen Nascar” is pure genius for the American market. As evidence, the brand is very popular in the US after that run and the first million of views was reached in a few days.

4) Tresher: 40% voucherWe are in 2006, a bit before Christmas. It’s shopping time for most families. “Le Champagne” is a must have for Christmas and New Year Evening. That’s why Tresher’s executives had the idea – or not – to share that voucher of worth 40% on all wines and Champagnes. The spokesperson said:

“It was never intended to get this big. The company admits it is slightly concerned about the popularity of the offer. We are waiting with bated breath… Early next week, we should get the figures for what level of business we have seen this week and over the weekend. This is a better offer than normal and it could end up hitting our profit margins.”

We can imagine that they still made a huge benefit and even more, with the publicity resulting of this voucher! The company’s margins are increasing each year.

3) Burger King: subservient chickenhttp://www.subservientchicken.com/pre_bk_skinned.swf

The subservient chicken from Burger King is maybe not the funniest or the smartest of the viral campaign, but the way it succeeds is undeniable, with over 46 million views in less than a week! It is not a world record, but it deserves a place on the podium. The concept is simple: on a website, you can ask a chicken to do “(nearly) whatever you want him to do. This nod to adult cam sites is a part of an integrated campaign for their new TenderCrisp chicken sandwish. They tried to touch the 18-30 mans, because this audience is not looking at TV anymore, or even less than computers. That was a success!

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2) Cadbury: Gorilla adverthttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo

Another example of how an amazing advert can get millions views thanks to the web comes in the form of a gorilla playing the drums for Cadbury’s chocolates. This advertisement is the centerpiece of a 6.2 million pounds campaign.

1)Hotmail – the real viral marketing pioneer

That could surprise most of us, but Hotmail is the king of viral marketing. The technique is still used in the present, but it’s too late! Let’s have a look at the job they did!

In 1996, when Caramail was the most used “social media”, Hotmail had no more than 500.000 users. One year later, the famous mailbox had more than 12 million users! How is it possible?

It’s simple: every email sent with hotmail included a small add for hotmail in the bottom of the mail. Users saw their friends active on Hotmail, and created an account. It took no more than 3 minutes to create it, which was impressive 15 years ago. That’s how most of us have created an Hotmail account without even knowing what it is or means.Badoo is still doing a marketing of that kind, as you may sometimes receive emails with “X and Y, your friends, are waiting for you at Baddo.com.” or “you have a few personal messages from your friends waiting for you at Badoo!”. The problem is users are now more prepared to this kind of add, and the fear of a virus is never far.

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DUCARMOIS Baptiste January 2013

Questions

1) What is the main objective of viral marketing ? 2) How many steps are required in viral marketing process? 3) Give an example of bad buzz turned into good buzz

a) Find new customers, take care of E-reputation b) Sevenc) La Redoute

Sourceswww.e-marketing.fr/Thematique/Strategies-1001/Dossiers/Marketing-viral-et-buzz

http://www.abc-netmarketing.com/Les-risques-et-limites-du.html

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_viral

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

http://www.branded3.com/blogs/the-top-10-viral-marketing-campaigns-of-all-time/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_%28advertisement%29

http://www.abc-netmarketing.com/Les-risques-et-limites-du.html

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