Economic sciences/6. Marketing and management

B.V. Bespalyi, O.M. Zbyrannyk

Kremenchuk Mykhaylo Ostrogradskiy State University, Ukraine

The virus of viral marketing

Our habitual representation about viruses is traditionally connected to something menacing or even killing. They parasitize on other organism using their resources to increase in the population and are made multiple copies in a geometric progression. Viral marketing is also based on similar principles, but this virus doesn’t bear any harm to your health.

Viral marketing – one of the main trends in a communication policy of the largest global companies, represents the branch of guerilla marketing. Viral marketing is also called Marketing buzz (marketing noise).

According to the theory of the known sociologist Paul Lazarsfeld, models “two-level communication” and “the leader of opinion”, the points of view and simply friends are appreciated by people much more than advertising video clips on TV, with application of unknown characters. Viral marketing forces people to speak about your project to all friends and familiar to recollect your advertising reference at any conversations. It’s enough to convince the leaders of opinion of uniqueness of the goods to let the necessary information flown about all society and to begin to draw customs (the model of “two-level communication”). The circuit of viral marketing is simple: the first addressee of the information shares with the nearest environment, they, in turn, with the circle into which enter new people and so on.

It is enough to start process with qualitative and creative advertising idea. The “virus” assumes absence of shocking or very interesting facts in circulation, popular music among youth, and those objects in general which can interest or surprise spectators.

This kind of advertising can demand heavy expenses on formation of the reference, but due to creative, modern methods of Internet promotion and a principle of word-of-mouth marketing the advertising product can even become cult among a huge audience.

It’s a little history. The concept “viral marketing” has arisen in the USA in 1996, in the use this word-combination has been entered by Jeffrey Rayport in his article “The virus of marketing”. The first large action in Internet networks with the application of viral marketing has been carried out by the largest post service of America Hotmail. The action provided an attachment to each letter written by the user, messages of the company which calls addressees to start a free-of-charge mail on Hotmail.

This approach has presented post service of 500 thousands users in the first year. This not complex but intensive strategy has led to the rise of amount of users on 500%. On the end of 2011 this service was actively used by 360 million of users.

Today viral marketing is used by the majority of the large global companies. For example, known video clips such as The Puma Hardchorus, Swagger Wagon (Toyota), The Force: Volkswagen Commercial, Smart Water with Jennifer Aniston, and others. It is enough to look only in section “popular” on YouTube.

The known American author of books on business, the orator and the former vice-president on marketing of the search giant Yahoo! Seth Godin, which investigates trends of modern marketing, examines three main principles of modern marketing:

· He predicts radio advertisings. The author names this this kind of advertising means “interrupting advertising”, i.e. it distracts potential consumers, thus sometimes motivates negative reaction. Therefore Godin enters the concept “confidential marketing” where business offers the buyer something valuable, thus achieves trust and then is engaged in sales;

· Nowadays, consumers influence on the manufacturer, therefore manufacturers should show the big respect for consumers. It means that it’s necessary to keep the promises, no cunnings and spam;

· The idea, according to Seth Godin’s works, should be special. He has described this system in details in his book “Purple Cow”, in the known complex “4P” he enters new P – Purple Cow. It means, that your goods should have any special characteristics, special methods of promotion, in general something that your competitors cannot give. There is the breadboard model of the purple cow in the hall of the main office in Yahoo!.

Many advanced experts of the world agree with Seth Godin’s views. The society doesn’t pay any attention to standard (sample) advertising references, for example on advertising video clips, “having taken advantage of these goods you will be very happy”, is not a subject of attention any more. The “idea-virus” is necessary which will create a certain similarity of the cult goods from the promoted object.

Viral marketing is a compound of guerrilla marketing. The term “guerrilla marketing” was created by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book “Guerrilla marketing” in 1984. This book was a bestseller. This type of marketing means the minimum use of budgetary funds for promotion of the goods or service which are capable to involve effectively a new consumer audience.

The most popular places of distribution of viral ideas are popular social networks (Facebook, VKontakte, Twitter, Google+) and videohostings (YouTube, Google Video, Clipshack). The most popular service for distribution of viral video is YouTube.

One of the constitutors of The CoMotion Company Dan Ackerman Greenberg published a post on a site of one of the most known techno-blogs in the world TechCrunch in which he has illuminated 9 secrets (the main rules) as for the promotion of an “viral idea”:

1) Not all viral video such as they actually are. Each video cannot become viral in natural way, but there are methods which allow to make it. There are many companies, assisting the ideas to receive the status of an viral idea;

2) The content is not basic. Greenberg writes that the content takes leading positions only when an overall objective of video is the formation of an audience. He also has described desirable requirements to a content:

- Short clips (10-15 min);

- It is necessary to make video so that everybody could make a remix on it;

- It’s not necessary to make video with very appreciable advertising characters;

- Use provocative headings;

- Maintain a theme of sex if anything else doesn’t work;

3) The overall objective – to get on page “most popular”;

4) Heading. The provocative heading is paid attention to, it may not be changed for the first several days, but then it’s necessary to replace heading which has any relation to a brand. It’s necessary to study headings of the other video clips, yours should be appreciable among them;

5) There will be many different video clips near to your video on page “popular”, therefore preview is the best means to increase viewings. The preview must be as qualitative as a video and should comprise the person or an alive creature which is used your video clip;

6) Comments: communicate with itself. Provocations in comments is a good way to draw attention, people like to read discussions. If someone responds about your video-project negatively, it’s possible to remove this comment and not to let this negative point of view influence on others;

7) Simulations loading. It’s not necessary, if you have several video clips, to load with significant breaks in time, it’s necessary to load them simultaneously;

8) YouTube allows to give a tag to a video clip, which will reflect it at a relevant search inquiries. It’s not less important that you can supervise display of clips near to you. The idea in collecting your content on several pages won’t let the user to leave on another’s clips. When viewings fall, it’s possible to add some more tags: for people which search for video in YouTube or Google;

9) Tracking. It’s necessary to watch actively the amount of viewers and to update a policy of promotion.

Proceeding from above principles, it’s possible to make a conclusion that viral advertising has not spontaneous popularity, all this is a result of active promotion of the given type of the reference by employees of advertising agencies. Dan Ackerman Greenberg’s words sound nicely: “You simply can’t expect to post great videos on YouTube and have them go viral on their own, even if you think you have the best videos ever. These days, achieving true virality takes serious creativity, some luck, and a lot of hard work. So, my advice: fire your PR firm and do it yourself.”

Advertising in the Internet is not subjected to censorship, as on TV, radio or outdoor advertising. As a whole it’s guided by principles of morals and tolerance. Everyone has own definition of a level of tolerance, therefore sometimes the conflicts take place. For example one of the first viral advertising of Ford SportKa (2003) a small automobile with sports tuning (moved like a “malicious twin Ford Ka”) easily forcing down a pigeon, flying above the machine, with its cowl. In the following video the car entices the cat into interior, having the hatch inside, the hatch is closed quickly and the principle of guillotine operates. It’s possible to see in YouTube that even now the users actively and extremely negatively make comments on the given video. This clip have advertising video have caused a storm in the nature projection organizations and the Ford company has published the information that it was the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather’s fault, which began (without any approval) to advance this advertising, which has been forbidden to show by Ford. To soften the anger of defenders of animals, the Chairman of Board of Directors of Ogilvy & Mather Mike Walsh had to cooperate (free-of-charge) with a society of protection of cats, assuring spectators that the cat actually was digital model, and pigeon – a toy.

Ukrainian enterprises do not actively use the viral technologies, but more and more companies start to use a network for promotion of the goods and services using viral advertising. For example the company “Hercules” has successfully combined a problem of selling of ice-cream in winter and strong frosts in the street. As the youth in such weather is on the Internet, the company has started a set of viral videos and a site where it’s possible to order ice-cream delivery to home. There will be a discount on this ice-cream by the quantity of degrees of frost in the street. Also it will be brought by the courier in a suit of panda, squirrel or bird. Nevertheless it concerns more sales promoting, a photo of the couriers, successfully started viral video clips and banners in a network have quickly made the idea very well-known in large cities of the country.

It perhaps one of the most creative viruses on the Internet from the Ukrainian manufactures. Viral advertising on the former Soviet space maintains very frequently a theme of sex and the images approached to it, even where it is inappropriate.

Summing up, it is possible to say, that viral marketing – one of the main trends in marketing of today and tomorrow. Small expenses, comparing with traditional technologies of advertising, and substantial increase of loyalty to brand will be a success. Viral technologies penetrate into our life more and more, viral advertising is more veiled, a product is not so obviously advertised, as the traditional video advertising do. Though the Internet gives more horizons for more freedom to the users, it also opens more powerful and disguised influence of manufacturers.

The known expert in the field of viral marketing, PR expert Steve Rubel, says that modern marketing is more likely a campaign under a sail, than driving of the automobile. It is necessary to take into account the force and a direction of a wind and to choose the correct direction. Boat is a brand, and the expert in marketing should create a “correct” wind. Viral marketing helps to fulfill this task, and then the boat will come to destination.

Literature:

1. Godin, Seth (2001). Unleashing the Ideavirus. New York: Hyperion.

2. Godin, Seth (2003). Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable. Portfolio.

3. Guest Author. (November 22nd, 2007). The Secret Strategies Behind Many "Viral" Videos. http://techcrunch.com/2007/11/22/the-secret-strategies-behind-many-viral-videos/

4. Rayport, Jeffrey. (December 31, 1996). The Virus of Marketing. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/06/virus.html