Individual Research Into Viral Adverts.

Viral Adverts

Viral advertising refers to marketing techniques that try to increase brand awareness or achieve other marketing objectives such as promoting a film. It can be delivered by word of mouth or enhanced by the effects of the internet and mobile networks.

Viral marketing may take the form of video clips, interactive Flash games, advergames, eBooks, brandable software, images, text messages, emails or web pages.

Content that is included in a viral marketing campaign should be easily transportable and highly engaging so that it is shared quickly by many people.

Techniques for a successful viral advertising campaign:

·         Ensure it is easily shareable

·         Focus on eliciting emotion

·         Be unexpected

·         Follow up with additional elements (bloopers, blog posts, related content).

·         Keep it simple

·         Tie into current events, pop culture, sports and other news

Things to avoid:

·         Don’t plan the campaign assuming it will go viral

·         Don’t advertise (much)

·         People won’t want to register to see the content

Examples of successful viral advertising campaigns:
Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall (sponsored by Red Bull):

The video of Baumgartner jumping from space back down to earth has over 41 million views. It gives the brand Red Bull exposure as they are the ones that uploaded the official video. I think the video was extremely popular because it was something that had not been done before so therefore offers the audience a new experience.

 Last Exorcism (film):

Lionsgate Films used Chatroulette, a website which pairs up strangers with webcams to chat online, as their chosen method of promotion. Following the stereotype that Chatroulette tends to be used in a ‘sleazy’ way, The Last Exorcism was promoted by having a series of young women appear as “up for a good time” online. The men watching any of these online feeds, would see a girl seductively starting to unbutton her top, when she would then stop and turn into a demonic monster, lunging at the camera.
The young guys watching, terrified, would then see a URL for the film’s official website. I think this was a brilliant piece of viral marketing, getting pulses running and getting users to experience first hand what scary films should be all about. It raised a lot of interest and got people talking, which is exactly what you want from viral marketing.