...Channel White Paper Online viral marketing: the strategic synthesis in peer-to-peer brand marketing By Justin Kirby, managing director www.dmc.co.uk online@dmc.co.uk If you’re selling the next iPod™ or another product that has an inherent wow factor, you can stop reading now. But if your brand, service or product is not so one-in-a-million, read on – you can still generate massive peerto-peer endorsement © 2004 Digital Media Communications Ltd (DMC). All rights reserved. All trademarks and registered trademarks acknowledged. Not to be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of Digital Media Communications Ltd Brand Channel White Paper, July 2004: Online viral marketing, the strategic synthesis in peer-to-peer brand marketing 2/5 Ever since marketers acknowledged that there’s too much advertising (so people have learned to tune it out), and too many media channels (which makes it harder for advertisers to reach their now-fragmented audiences), they’ve been looking for alternative ways to get consumers to buy into their brand and buy their products. Most of the solutions being explored try to re-engage and interact with consumers in an old-style, ‘top-down’ approach, whereby Above-The-Line (ATL) mainstream media activities focusing on the brand are driving the communication. [Figure 1.] Yet one of the most credible solutions to the ‘much advertising no longer works’ problem is word-of-mouth marketing, whose raison d’être is encapsulated...
Words: 2275 - Pages: 10
...Viral Marketing When Hotmail first launched in 1996, the company decided to try a new marketing strategy and included, at the bottom of every email its users sent, a clickable link to sign up for a Hotmail account. This simple scheme had the effect of turning every user of Hotmail into a salesperson for the product whenever they sent out an email. This tactic of turning customers of a product into promoters of a product is one of the defining traits of viral marketing and central to the unique nature of this marketing methodology. Due in large part to this strategy, Hotmail was able to grow from 0 to 12 million users in a mere 18 months with an advertising budget of only $50,000. During the same period, Juno, a direct competitor, spent $20 million in traditional advertising costs and had worse results (Jurvetson 2000). The Hotmail case is one of the earliest examples of viral marketing and definitively demonstrated its effectiveness. Viral marketing is defined as “network-enhanced word of mouth” (Jurvetson 2000). Specifically, viral marketing refers to the utilization of electronic word of mouth to transmit marketing materials in an exponentially growing manner, often through the usage of social media (Kaplan 3). The term viral was used because spreading a marketing message using this strategy mimics the exponential growth found in epidemics of pathogenic organisms such as viruses. For example, with a “fan out” rate of three, the first person exposed to a marketing...
Words: 1586 - Pages: 7
...Viral Marketing By Chad Thevenot, Katherine Watier, and Team Member #3 Georgetown University, Communications, Culture & Technology Program May 2001 Word-of-mouth publicity is a centuries-old marketing technique. Once customers had a good experience with a product, they would tell their friends, who would often buy and use that product and then tell other friends – dispersing information and recommendations about the product via a social network. Mary Kay Cosmetics and Amway, brands that relied on social networks to inform potential customers about their products, used this technique with great success to build highly recognizable brands. Technology makes the spread of product knowledge from one person to another faster and more efficient. Today, digital media like the Internet are the new word of mouth networks, which act as easy, additional resources for people to spread the word. "The Net amplifies the power and accelerates the speed of feedback from users to potential adopters." "People have always relied on word-of-mouth to spread the news about products and services. The Internet just speeds things along," says Charlene Li, an analyst with Forrester Research. Word-of-mouth techniques are vital to marketing on the Internet. Consumers say the primary source of credibility that makes them visit a Web site is word-of-mouth referrals, usually an e-mail from a friend, according to the Internet research firm Jupiter Research. Tim Draper, one of the founding investors for the...
Words: 6421 - Pages: 26
...full-service ad agency. At the time, Mekanism was a digital social media production company that developed viral marketing campaigns for various firms. They had great success seeing 68% annual growth in billings which was fasted than they had predicted. In 2010, they saw sequential increases in profits, but only 10% growth in billings with fewer clients signing on. This posed a unique situation for Mekanism offering a couple of options. They could remain a niche creative shop that specialized in viral marketing where they had proven success; or they could transform into a full service ad agency with a closer relationship to advertisers, and be able to afford more opportunities to leverage content into television and other traditional media. At the time, Mekanism employees were dodging requests from clients for advertising content that was currently not a focus of the company. This put Harris and Caban in a situation where immediate action needed to be taken. Viral marketing offers a great bang for the buck for many products and services. It is very quickly becoming an effective and low-cost method of getting a message out to consumers. With the explosion of advertising and marketing on the internet over the last decade, viral marketing has become extremely popular because of its ability to leverage the collaborative nature of online communities. There are some clear properties that a viral campaign must have in order to become successful. The message must present clear value to the customer...
Words: 1367 - Pages: 6
...Viral marketing, viral advertising, referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networking services and other technologies to try 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] Viral advertising is personal and, while coming from an identified sponsor, it does not mean businesses pay for its distribution.[2] Most of the well-known viral ads circulating online are ads paid by a sponsor company, launched either on their own platform (company webpage or social media profile) or on social media websites such as YouTube.[3] Consumers receive the page link from a social media network or copy the entire ad from a website and pass it along through e-mail or posting it on a blog, webpage or social media profile. Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, text messages, email messages, or web pages. The most commonly utilized transmission vehicles for viral messages include: pass-along based, incentive based, trendy based, and undercover based. However, the creative nature of viral marketing enables an "endless amount of potential forms and vehicles the messages can utilize for transmission",...
Words: 3521 - Pages: 15
...Unit 4 Chapter 5 : Viral Marketing What is Viral Marketing? Viral marketing; simply the literal meaning is explains it all. Similar to “word-of-mouth”(Unit 4 Chapter 4), this marketing technique diffuses almost instantaneously. However, unlike “word-of-mouth”, Viral Marketing is mainly spread electronically, through web based technologies such as emails and social networking sites. It is safe to say that “word-of mouth” marketing is the most powerful marketing strategy. This viral strategy utilizes web based technologies to ensure that their product or service is being promoted. The classical example of a successful Viral Marketing strategy is Microsoft's Hotmail.com. At the early stages of its product life cycle, any message sent from a user contained an ad for MSN as well as a web link at the bottom of the message. Any message sent to family and friends was promoting the use of Hotmail, especially to those individuals using alternate emailing services. Anyone who received messages from Hotmail users could simply click the link and “Sign up for FREE!”. As emails were being sent, the link to sign up for Hotmail.com went viral, and the buzz of this product was passed to different individuals and social groups around the world. Within the first year, Microsoft attracted over 15 million users, today there are over 300 millions users globally. |EXAM TIP: ...
Words: 799 - Pages: 4
...First we need to understand the types of expenses incurred by a student while staying in a campus. These are 1) Movie 2) Restaurant 3) Canteen and Xerox Center (every collage has at least one canteen and Xerox center) 4) Shopping To create a buzz in the campus first thing which can be done is to bring the collage canteen and Xerox center under the scheme and in initial phase some discount can be given to student if they avail these service through Airtel Money. Then we have to look for specific restaurant, multiplexes and malls (campus wise) where student generally hangs around. If students are given discount on these restaurant and multiplexes, then the usability can be increased. After these the next step will be to make these students aware of the various schemes which are currently going on. This can be achieved in following manner 1) Sending SMS to the registered user on daily basis informing him about deal in his region 2) Sending out daily email giving detailed information. Next step will be to have one active page on Facebook (while searching on Facebook came across more than 5 of them) for 1) Posting daily about the current and recent deals 2) Continuously posting various facts which stating the benefit of using Airtel Money for payment over conventional method and ease of using it 3) Acting as a medium where it can be used to answer query of any user for basic information For Customer Acquisition Strategy for Express and Power accounts tie ups with following...
Words: 324 - Pages: 2
...The Dynamics of Viral Marketing ∗ Jure Leskovec Machine Learning Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA Lada A. Adamic School of Information, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Bernardo A. Huberman HP Labs, Palo Alto, CA 94304 April 20, 2007 Abstract We present an analysis of a person-to-person recommendation network, consisting of 4 million people who made 16 million recommendations on half a million products. We observe the propagation of recommendations and the cascade sizes, which we explain by a simple stochastic model. We analyze how user behavior varies within user communities defined by a recommendation network. Product purchases follow a ’long tail’ where a significant share of purchases belongs to rarely sold items. We establish how the recommendation network grows over time and how effective it is from the viewpoint of the sender and receiver of the recommendations. While on average recommendations are not very effective at inducing purchases and do not spread very far, we present a model that successfully identifies communities, product and pricing categories for which viral marketing seems to be very effective. 1 Introduction With consumers showing increasing resistance to traditional forms of advertising such as TV or newspaper ads, marketers have turned to alternate strategies, including viral marketing. Viral marketing exploits existing social networks by encouraging customers to share product information with their friends...
Words: 19974 - Pages: 80
...RECENT TRENDS IN VIRAL MARKETING *Ritu ABSTRACT 2010 looks to be the biggest year ever for online marketing. With more and more marketers demanding results-based advertising, it is no wonder viral marketing is becoming one of the fastest-growing trends. Nothing captures the essence of viral marketing better than the description of how a virus grows. It is uncanny in its ability to remain shrouded in secrecy till it wins by sheer weight of numbers. It piggybacks on other hosts, and grows by feeding on their resources, not its own. It doesn’t need to mate- it replicates itself. And with the right kind of environment, it can grow exponentially, as can be seen by the 1’s above. Viral Marketing, naturally, is something that draws upon these fundamental characteristics of a virus- exponential growth with minimum use of one’s own resources. It refers to any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a ‘message’ to other individuals, who in turn pass it on to other people, and so on and so forth, thereby allowing for an exponential growth in the popularity and exposure of the message. This paper examines as to how viral marketing can make a brand name stand out from the competition and some strategies important to make viral marketing campaigns unique . The paper identifies trends that will increase the likelihood of a successful online viral marketing campaign and demonstrate how these strategies market. With a discussion on how the risks and rewards of a viral campaign differ...
Words: 313 - Pages: 2
... Recent Trends in Viral Marketing In: Business and Management Recent Trends in Viral Marketing RECENT TRENDS IN VIRAL MARKETING *Ritu ABSTRACT 2010 looks to be the biggest year ever for online marketing. With more and more marketers demanding results-based advertising, it is no wonder viral marketing is becoming one of the fastest-growing trends. Nothing captures the essence of viral marketing better than the description of how a virus grows. It is uncanny in its ability to remain shrouded in secrecy till it wins by sheer weight of numbers. It piggybacks on other hosts, and grows by feeding on their resources, not its own. It doesn’t need to mate- it replicates itself. And with the right kind of environment, it can grow exponentially, as can be seen by the 1’s above. Viral Marketing, naturally, is something that draws upon these fundamental characteristics of a virus- exponential growth with minimum use of one’s own resources. It refers to any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a ‘message’ to other individuals, who in turn pass it on to other people, and so on and so forth, thereby allowing for an exponential growth in the popularity and exposure of the message. This paper examines as to how viral marketing can make a brand name stand out from the competition and some strategies important to make viral marketing campaigns unique . The paper identifies trends that will increase the likelihood of a successful online viral marketing campaign and demonstrate...
Words: 316 - Pages: 2
... Cueto, Conrad Jonathan Del Mundo, Christopher Brian Pagsuyuin, Alfredo Jr. Tulio, Emmanuel Viral Marketing Today, the traditional marketing technique of running ads through the major media outlets – television, newspaper and radio – is no longer as effective. A large part of this is due to the rise of the internet and the new marketing segment known as Generation Y. This group of young people takes more to trusting their friends and people in their inner circle, rather than mass media ads from people they do not know. It’s precisely because of this new marketing landscape that viral marketing – that is, getting your message across through word of mouth, is so important in today’s marketing mix. Nothing works better than getting your customers and fans to do the marketing for you – and it’s a lot cheaper than running the ads on television. The key to viral marketing is to tickle the consumer’s emotions and have them really move on the message. There’s a reason that “emotion” contains the word “motion,” and it’s when you get people’s emotions moving that viral marketing really comes to life. Viral Marketing has taken on many forms and faces over the years, but some of them work really well and others, not so much. Giving out Freebies The classic example of viral marketing is Hotmail.com. Hotmail, the first free e-mail provider, would give away free email accounts to people, and append in the signature of each email...
Words: 1441 - Pages: 6
...7 Tipps für erfolgreiches Viral Marketing Sicher ist vielen Leuten der Begriff Viral Marketing weitgehend unbekannt, trotzdem sind wahrscheinlich sind die meisten von ihnen schon einmal Teil einer solchen Werbekampagne geworden oder haben aktiv ein Produkt dadurch unterstützt. Sobald wir einen Link verbreiten, uns ein YouTube Video ansehen oder einen Artikel auf Facebook liken tragen wir zu viralem Marketing eines Produktes bei und sind uns dessen doch nicht immer bewusst. Die Frage, die aber oft im Raum stehen bleibt ist ob der Erfolg solch einer Kampagne nur Zufall, Glück oder doch das Ergebnis einer langjährigen Planung darstellt? Falls ja, wie würden diese Planung aussehen und was müssten ein Produkt besitzen um erfolgreich zu werden? Wie wurde zum Beispiel eines der neusten und bereits in der Vorlesung angeschnittenen viralen Marketingkampagnen, Psys Gangnam Style, zu einem solchen weltweiten Phänomen? Kevin Cain nennt auf seinem openview blogg vier Kriterien welche für das Produkt der Marketingkampagne sehr wichtig sind und möglichst erfüllt sein sollten damit ein viraler Effekt entsteht: 1. Entertaining – Unterhaltsam Das Produkt sollte in erster Linie unterhaltend sein und den Nutzern Spass bereiten. Dieses Kriterium wird beim Gangnam Style Video durch eine kreative, witzige Tanzchoreografie und viele Farben erfüllt. Das Video ist sehr abwechslungsreich und vereint dadurch viele Themen, die den Konsumenten ansprechen könnten. 2. Educational – Lehrreich ...
Words: 925 - Pages: 4
...VIRAL MARKETING STRATEGY ON SENNHEISER PREPARED BY HARSHAD MAHAJAN KETAN CHOUGULE LAVKUMAR SUTHAR Index 1. ABSTRACT 2. IMPETUS 3. DESCRIPTION OF A COMPANY 4. ACTUAL MARKETING CONCEPT 5. TARGET GROUP 6. VIRAL MARKETING STRTEGY 7. POSSIBLE POTENTIAL 8. MARKETING CHANNELS 9. RECOMMENDATIONS ABSTRACT Sennheiser is a German audio company, which produce headphones, microphones and other electronic accessories. They have a rich history and have maintained substantial position in market till now. Usage of effective marketing strategies has helped them to keep their market during recession period. People at Sennheiser say that ‘They are not obsessed with image, they are obsessed with sound’. This obsession has motivated them to be innovative in their respective field and provide premium quality products to their customers. As a result, they have a loyal customer base. Unique and funny content in their marketing methods creates interest in customers. Sennheiser arranges various marketing campaign, in which users can actively take part. This way they can make direct connection to customers and know customers demands. Social media is also important part of marketing. Sennheiser is also active on various social media sites, which is really helpful to target young people. In this report how Sennheiser can expand their customer base using effective viral marketing strategy and meet change in demands...
Words: 1995 - Pages: 8
...TABLE DES MATIERES Introduction I. Définition, historique et positionnement a. Le marketing viral : définition b. Un bref historique c. La situation du marketing viral vis-à-vis des autres types de campagne marketing sur Internet II. Les idées virus et leur importance aujourd’hui a. Définition et traits communs b. La différence entre une idée virus et le bouche-à-oreille c. Pourquoi le marketing viral a-t-il du sens aujourd’hui ? d. Le déclin du marketing traditionnel et la fin des jeux à somme nulle III. Le lancement de l campagne virale et la diffusion de l’idée virus a. L’acteur principal Le contaminateur erratique Le contaminateur efficace Les hubs réseaux b. La diffusion de l’idée virus lors de la campagne Les avantages du bouche-à-oreille Quelques principes de bonne gestion du bouche-à-oreille c. L’impact des réseaux sociaux sur l’efficacité de la diffusion IV. Le futur du marketing viral Résumé Conclusion Bibliographie Introduction À l’heure du web 2.0 et dans un contexte de mondialisation croissant, la concurrence inter-entreprise est rude. Face à une économie bouleversée, les comportements des consommateurs ne cessent d’évoluer, c’est pourquoi il faut savoir capter avec attention les nouvelles tendances du marché. Afin de se différencier, les entreprises cherchent à communiquer massivement auprès de leurs cibles. Néanmoins, les discours publicitaires détenus par les médias traditionnels...
Words: 8573 - Pages: 35
...8. QUESTIONS: (Choose the best response for each one) ------------------------------------------------- Top of Form 1. We haven't been very ________________________ in promoting our products. ( = we haven't been promoting our products too much) action acting active 2. We're investing money in areas where we think we can grow and be ________________________. profit profitable profiting 3. The inflation rate has been ________________________ higher by rising food and energy costs. put pushed increased 4. The ________________________ results surprised everyone. better-than-expected better-than-thought beat expectations 5. I expect this to become the next big ________________________. ( = popular thing) trendy trend-setter trend 6. Job opportunities are sometimes referred to as "job ________________________." prospects offers training 7. We expect this to ________________________ ( = change) in the months ahead. turn around turn out turn 8. They are the world's largest ________________________ of anti-inflammatory drugs. produce production producer 9. We used to make these cups from glass, but we ________________________ to plastic in 2004. swapped switched altered 10. Our factory is inspected on a ________________________. ( = regularly) regular basis scheduled visit time to time 9. QUESTIONS: (Choose the best response for each one) Top of Form 1. We haven't been very ________________________ in promoting...
Words: 338 - Pages: 2