UKNM Roundup: 01-09-2000

It's a viral thing, baby.
UK-Netmarketing Weekly Round-up - September 1, 2000

It's pretty safe to say that viruses are regarded as bad things, whether they're in the natural or virtual worlds. Using the same technique for marketing a website, à la Hotmail, however, can bring about spectacular results with a bit of effort and surprisingly little outlay. Used well it's powerful, used badly it's like the gift of a verruca.

Dan Winchester kicked things off, asking, "I'm trying to put together a list of agencies who specialise/dabble in viral marketing?"

Ray Taylor, with more than a hint of scepticism, replied, "What do you need to know about viral marketing? Isn't it just some fancy new jargon term for 'word of mouth'? So there are agencies who get their mates to tell lots of their mates about this great new site ... etc? If you have something worth talking about, won't it get talked about without hiring an agency for the purpose? Or perhaps you could kick something off with a bit of old fashioned PR/promotion."

Tim Ireland, countered, "Come on Ray, you know there's more involved than this. Viral marketing at its best does grow wild, but the seeds have to be planted first. To give an example from last century, even a good old-fashioned 'whisper campaign' was sometimes required to kick-start the 'word of mouth' effect. Just last week we discussed the proven viral effect of a carefully placed 'leak'. While web users did just about all of the legwork, a lot of thought went into the seemingly simple action of sending out a dozen emails. Why send poor Dan out to play with a box of matches when he can hire an arsonist and have the job done properly? (Erm, hang on - let me get back to you with a better analogy...)"

To which, Ray Taylor replied, "Okay, Tim, you've rumbled me again. You and I both know that there are some very good examples of stonkingly successful 'viral marketing' campaigns. But it pains me to witness the seductive power that terms like viral marketing have in an industry that seems constantly to be looking for instant solutions to the problem of getting enough people interested and involved quickly enough to stop the investment money from running out. The various techniques of online marketing are not difficult to understand. Why obfuscate the whole thing with so much jargon? (And yes, that is a rhetorical question)."

Maurice Wheeler outlined his thoughts on what constituted viral marketing, writing, "I think the key ... is to ensure the applications/message is right in the first place. This is the hardest part of any viral marketing campaign, because as the name suggests, once this is created the viral nature of the Internet will take care of the rest. ... There is no actual viral marketing mechanic i.e. we don't have a team of viral marketers, but we do word of mouth and grassroots marketing, PR, promotions, advertising, sponsorship all the normal online marketing things to raise awareness."

Kief Morris added, "The problem with 'viral marketing' as a term is that truly viral marketing is entirely dependent on the product or service. Hotmail is viral because every time a customer uses it to send an email, the service is being advertised to the user's friends. Napster is viral because the more people who are involved, the better it becomes for its users. At the end of the day, 'viral marketing' means your customers sell your product for you. The idea that this effect can be manufactured and applied to hawk washing powder or any other random product someone might take to an advertising agency is just silly."

Ben Hunt emailed, "My understanding of 'viral marketing' also includes anything that gets sent round the office world via email. ... Now - if you send out a creative product via email (or stick it on the web) that is so attractive that everyone in everyone's contacts list receives it directly, it comes from a friend, *gets your full attention* for a few moments or more, and entertains in some way = Holy Grail"

Steve Bowbrick took a stab at defining the terms, "word-of-mouth marketing = a product so cool that your users rush around telling their mates (no agency required) e.g. funky screensavers. Reference discipline: social anthropology. Viral marketing = a way of exploiting connectedness to get your cool product to market itself (no word-of-mouth required) e.g. another.com email addresses. Reference discipline: epidemiology."

New Media can be a macho industry, especially if you're hearing aid is playing up, as Aidan Cook found out, "When introduced to the concept at a meeting, I actually misheard the phrase as 'virile marketing', and interpreted this to be a strategy of going out & fucking the opposition, seducing customers, and generally putting your brand about a bit. Maybe someone will consider developing a 'virile division'...although I'm not sure how long it could be sustained."