In today’s media saturated culture, advertisements are everywhere. While estimates vary, it’s safe to say that Americans come in contact with upwards of 2000 ads every day. Because of the sheer number of advertisements that Americans are exposed to, a vast majority will be completely forgotten or ignored. Today’s “media clutter” is forcing advertisers to spread their message through alternate channels. Television and radio advertising campaigns are no longer the effective tools they once were. Today, many advertisers are turning to viral marketing as a means of reaching more consumers, and getting a message stuck in their heads.
The term viral marketing was coined in the mid 1990s by Harvard Professor Jeffrey Rayport. The concept behind viral marketing involves an advertiser sending the consumer a message. Instead of the advertiser using a traditional channel, such as a television or internet advertisement, the message will be more closely catered to the consumer; for example an interactive display on the street. From here, the consumer will approach the display, wanting to learn more. Once they have been satisfied, they will then relay the information to their friends and family, thus virally spreading the message (An illustration is posted below). These types of viral marketing have become hugely popular in the past decade.
Taking a step back, it is interesting to look at the evolution of advertising. The first true advertisements were in the late 19th century. Shop owners began to put small pieces of paper and cardboard up in their shop windows. From here, newspapers began adding small sponsorship messages in between news articles. In the 20th century, advertising exploded. The west saw the rise of consumer culture. Radio and television programming both used advertising sponsors. These shows would cut away from the normal programming a number of times during the broadcast to “bring you a message from their sponsor.” This would help to fund the programming while keeping one product fresh in the audience’s mind. The benefit of this style, is that viewers/listeners would only be receiving one advertising message, as opposed to the dozens we encounter today [during one show]. Obviously, between the 1950’s and today, there has been a significant increase in the sheer amount of advertising. Being exposed to thousands of messages ensures most individual messages will be quickly forgotten.
This leads to the current situation. Advertisers are constantly looking for new ways to appeal to consumers. With hundreds of billions of dollars available in the consumer spending market, everyone wants a share of the pie. Because of the oversaturation of media in the western world, new techniques had to emerge to target consumers. In the past, advertisers have used what is called “push” marketing to sell products. Push marketing is characterized by a business or advertiser “pushing” their product to the consumer, who may not already be aware of it. Push marketing is like casting a wide net; you send out the message to millions of people, so you can gain the attention of a few. Modern television commercials definitely fall into this category.
On the other hand, we have “pull marketing,” which includes viral marketing. Pull marketing is the exact opposite of push marketing, and involves consumers going out of their way to learn about a new product. Instead of advertisers forcing the information down consumers’ throats, the information is available to those who are interested. With pull marketing, the concept is that the interested consumers will not only “pull” themselves toward the information, but then also spread the information to their acquaintances.
Ultimately, push marketing is easier from a creative standpoint. Advertisers stick with traditional means of promoting their product. While the concepts of the advertisements will vary, the medium remains constant. Alternately, pull marketing allows to advertisers to think outside the box in their attempts to attract customers. Generally, pull marketing uses more specific messages in order to target consumers more closely, whereas push marketing has a very general message for the broader audience.
In addition to understanding the concepts behind viral marketing, it is also important to see viral marketing in practice. First and perhaps most obviously, was the Aqua Teen Hunger Force incident which occurred in Boston in 2007. The incident, in which led displays depicting the Mooninites (characters on the television show) were placed around 10 major cities, could also be classified as guerrilla marketing. In Boston, these led’s were confused as bombs, causing a short panic in the city. Ultimately, the event received widespread media coverage, and despite its negative portrayal, it still effectively promoted the movie. A photo of one of the led displays in question is below:
Another recent example of viral marketing is from the promotional campaign for the movie Cloverfield. The movie was first announced in a standard movie trailer, however, the trailer did not state the movie’s title, only the release date. This caused a huge stir among viewers, and led to a great deal of speculation as to the film’s plot. As the release drew closer, the viral marketing campaign grew more comprehensive. The advertising agency for the film created MySpace pages for the film’s characters, giving those interested an idea of the back story. In a clever example of viral marketing, before the film’s release, television spots disguised as breaking news broadcasts swept the airwaves. In these spots, Japanese broadcasters informed the audience that a sea monster (presumably the same monster as in the movie) had attacked Japan and was heading towards other parts of the world, including the United States. These ads listed a website and encouraged viewers to log on. Nowhere was the movie Cloverfield even mentioned, making it true pull marketing. A shot from one of the viral Cloverfield is below:
One final example of viral marketing lies within the promotion of Nine Inch Nails 2007 album Year Zero. The album, which is a concept album, had a number of stages of advertising. Before it was released, songs from the album were put on usb drives, and left in the bathrooms of venues during Nine Inch Nails concerts. These drives were then found by fans, uploaded to the internet, and shared with the NIN community. From there, various websites were created relating to the albums content. These interlinked websites revealed information about the album and its concept. Again, the fan community joined together to investigate the sites and piece together the story. Finally, an interactive game was created around Year Zero’s concept to attract new fans to the community. When the album was released, the packaging and inserts led to even more tie-in websites and puzzles for the fans to solve, thus retaining the fan community’s attention. A picture of one of the inserts is posted below:
Up until this point, I have mentioned viral marketing success stories; however, there are also downsides to viral marketing campaigns. First, the campaigns have the potential to be very expensive and time consuming. While no companies have released any costs associated with viral marketing, certain campaigns obviously cost millions of dollars. For The Dark Knight, it is likely that viral marketing costs will actually exceed traditional advertising costs. For nearly a year, The Dark Knight been running a multi-faceted viral campaign. Interestingly, as of April, 2008 they have not yet begun to advertise the movie through “traditional” advertising channels, such as billboards or television spots.
Another potential downside of viral marketing is the fact that it can require effort on the consumers part. While fans of a certain product will likely have no problem going out of their way to participate in a viral campaign, casual fans may not want to put forth the effort for a product in which they only have moderate interest. Coincidentally, non-hardcore fans are one of the most important demographics to reach. The hardcore fans will likely support a product, regardless. But, anyone on the fence will need the right encouragement. Viral marketing is ideal for getting people involved with a product, however, the consumer still needs to put forth effort for the campaign to succeed.
Viral marketing also heavily relies on consumers themselves spreading information about the campaign, usually through the more mainstream media. For example, the Aqua Teen Hunger Force debacle generated huge amounts of press for the movie/television show. Granted, much of the press was negative, but the coverage certainly reached a wider audience than the stunts themselves would have. On the flip side, it is important to ask what the fate of the campaign would have been had the stunts not caused so much controversy. If Boston police/the FBI had realized that the “mysterious lights” were simply an advertising ploy, the campaign would have been far less successful. As it was, the entire nation heard about the stunt, and in turn the movie. The event was able to bring a great deal of press attention towards Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and ultimately made for a successful viral marketing campaign.
Overall, viral marketing has proven to be a highly effective form of advertising. The key to viral marketing is audience participation, which incidentally correlates with Henry Jenkins’ thoughts. Allowing audience interaction will only help to build a brand or product’s reputation, much like that of a television show. Viral marketing can even create fan communities that did not exist before. It will prove interesting to see if viral marketing is truly the future of advertising, or simply a gimmick.
Tags: advertising, viral marketing
