nline viral marketing is in many ways the distillation of modern advertising communications. It’s well documented that consumers have lost patience with traditional marketing communications, so online viral marketing is poised to capture their imagination and more importantly their time.
Having been utilised as a marketing tool for the past decade or so, viral marketing has finally come of age, as evidenced by Foster’s decision to launch the major new TVC for its Carlton Draught brand (otherwise known as The Big Ad) online three weeks before it hit television screens. The online release garnered the company oodles of free media coverage even before the traditional media schedule began.
Other campaigns such as Virgin Mobile’s spoof Jason Donovan campaign, where the former Neighbours star’s mobile number was supposedly spontaneously distributed online, generated huge discussion as to whether it was genuine or not, and TV was only added to the campaign after the concept took off online.
Getting it right
But, experts warn, don’t think viral marketing is simply sticking a TVC on an email or using it as an easy way to get punters to give your product a free plug—to do it well requires planning, as well as the ability to adapt your plans on the turn of a dime, not to mention actually offering the consumer something of value, be it a diversion or a financial incentive.
“The viral needs to be very genuine, if it’s too contrived users can see that,” domain.com.au’s product and marketing director, Collette van Rooyen, says. She says for an online business such as Fairfax Digital’s domain.com.au, the impact of a viral campaign can pay huge dividends. While a viral piece can be as easily achieved as adding a “send to a friend” mechanic on the piece, she believes the real trick is being able to spot the opportunity and move quickly.
This is exactly what domain.com.au did after a listing for one of the flats which fell into the hole created by construction on a new motorway in Sydney’s Lane Cove appeared.
The owner of the flat listed it as: “Recently renovated, then remodeled again by specialist tunnel engineers. Easy access to the tunnel and freeway. Free flowing air ducts. Building manager (several) on site.”
“Lane Cove Tunnel was a huge success for us. It generated a huge spike in traffic to the site. Lane Cove was topical and it sort of happened to us, rather than us creating it. We’re always looking for funny listings,” van Rooyen says.
While the medium has increased in sophistication in Australia, it still suffers the fate of being a “bolt-on” to a brief, according to director of viral specialist DMC Australia, Piers Hogarth-Scott. He says just adding a “send to friend” mechanism can see marketers miss out on the deeper and richer connections to be made with consumers.
“Mostly it’s handled as a bolt-on revolving around either simplistic ‘forward to a friend’ pseudo viral promotions—enter this competition for a chance to win ‘x’, and then for each friend you invite to also enter you’ll receive an additional chance to win yourself. Or alternatively happy accidents or contagious advertising (again think the Big Ad)—ads that are creatively excellent that are sent round to our friends on email. Both of these examples serve a function and carry a value, but they’re not genuinely embracing or exploiting the ‘connect and collaborate’ mantra,” Hogarth-Scott says.
But like all forms of marketing communications, Hogarth-Scott believes it has to be the right message for the medium.
Boosting brand advocacy
“Savvy marketers recognise that for the immense power of connected marketing to be truly unleashed, it needs to exist at the centre of the strategic planning process.”
“Movers and shakers like Crispin, Porter + Bogusky in the US [creators of Burger King’s Subservient Chicken] are taking a more connected marketing approach to their use of viral marketing. They use viral initiatives to ignite conversations among consumers in order to help improve brand advocacy rates—and their bottom line—rather than simply to spread a buzz about a creative execution,” he says.
Director of Behind the Line, the agency which created the recent viral campaign for Roses Only (see case study opposite), Andrew Turley, agrees saying there is a danger viral can be badly applied simply because it has increased visibility and is the next big thing in advertising.
“What I do think will happen is that CEOs will say I want some viral because there is a perception that viral is a cheap and cheerful way to get a message out without spending money,” Turley says.
“Like all channel planning, it has to be the right task for the right reasons.”
M&C Saatchi digital director for New York and Asia-Pacific, David Whittle, believes the single largest factor stymieing the growth and maturity of online viral marketing in Australia is what he calls the “digital disconnect”.
“We are still limited by the disproportionately low budgets being allocated to digital channels. This is changing, but it’s taking an excruciatingly long time,” Whittle says. He points to statistics that show 14% of consumers’ media time is spent on the web, while only 5% of ad revenue is spent on the web (source: Roy Morgan Single Source; CEASA; ABVS).
He is confident, though, that spending on viral marketing is set to increase significantly this year.
“Consumers, in particular the 10% that can be categorised as ‘influentials’, have a strong inclination and the capacity to rapidly distribute a marketing message.”
