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Thread: How to create contagious advertising

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    How to create contagious advertising

    Just found this stunning article on viral marketing. Enjoy and please use wisely
    A contagious advertising idea is one that so captures the imagination of its target market that they voluntarily send it to their friends and colleagues, thus endorsing it. We all have friends who want to share a joke with us or help with information. You find it funny or useful and SMS it on. When used as a business tool, it's called 'viral marketing' and it's very profitable.
    Viral marketing disrupts the outmoded conventional approach of traditional media and takes the consumer by surprise. You know when TV ads come on and so change channels. You know what a print ad looks like and turn the page. You don't know what a mobisode looks like when sent to your mobile.

    The arrival of third-generation (3G) cellular services has made the broadcasting and viewing of video footage a feasible commercial proposition.

    The message is: get into viral marketing with mobisodes (mobile to phone movies) at grassroots level in South Africa.


    By and large, traditional marketers are not aware of the impact of mobisodes. And even if they are, they don't recommend it because traditional media planning companies only operate in a traditional way. They don't get remuneration in the form of fees and commissions from contagious mobisodes, so why should they suggest it?

    But take note of the following interesting facts:
    • 117 prime time spots needed to reach 80%, as opposed to three prime time spots in 1979.
    • 90% of people skip commercials (Connected Marketing).
    • 18% of TV ads generate a positive return on ROI.
    • 14% of people trust advertising.


    65% of people believe there is too much advertising.
    Mobisodes create contagious advertising messages (from TV commercials, short movies to print images) that get passed on, peer to peer, increasing brand awareness and or prompting a call to action. The result? Sales!

    It costs a tenth of the price of traditional advertising and, each time it is passed on, the value increases.
    full article from Bizcommunity.com here

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    Platinum Member SilverNodashi's Avatar
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    So, how does one market effectively then?

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    If you find the answer to that one, please let me know. I'm generally the last person to hit the forward button on some funny email.

    In relation to the article, the trick seems to be about coming up with something contagious. Something to talk about or worth passing on.

    A more cynical side of me says that viral marketing in one form or another has always been there - it's just getting more high tech and systemised.

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    just me duncan drennan's Avatar
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    Here is a pretty good example of viral marketing...the band OK Go.

    Never heard of them, well, seen an MTN advert with some crazy guys on a treadmill recently? That is an exert from a music video that OK Go made and uploaded onto YouTube, and the ad certainly has people talking. It is sticky, and that is probably the key to a "viral" campaign.

    It you are into this kind of thing, then "The Tipping Point" is probably required reading.
    [SIGPIC]Engineer Simplicity[/SIGPIC]
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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Now there's the thing - what advertising agency is going to develop a $10 advertising campaign and get away with charging a fee that reflects the real value of their efforts?

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    just me duncan drennan's Avatar
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    I thought Seth Godin's ideas might contribute to this conversation,

    Real viral growth comes from one of a few likely paths:

    * Someone sneezes your idea with amplification. They show up on Oprah, or you have $100 million to spend on ads. Great work if you can get it...
    * The idea spreads with fidelity. One person really does tell four, and there's not a lot of leakage. Starbucks worked this way, largely because the chain grew at just the right rate and kept its character as it did.
    * The idea is particularly 'viral' (using a popular understanding of the word.) One typical person doesn't tell four, she tells 400. This is the blogger effect--lots of small amplifiers, working in unison.
    * The idea lives a very long time and spreads slowly. In our rapid-fire world, this one is pretty rare.

    Read the full blog post
    [SIGPIC]Engineer Simplicity[/SIGPIC]
    Turn ideas into products | The Art of Engineering blog

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Applying the idea that over a big enough sample, there should be some degree of predictability (other than the appearance on Oprah which might well be a wild card). Some factors in that formula that come to mind would be:
    • Degree of "contagiousness"* - which would affect the likelihood of it being forwarded in increasing or diminishing numbers from the outset.
    • The rate at which the contagiousness diminishes over either time or reproduction.

    * The idea lives a very long time and spreads slowly. In our rapid-fire world, this one is pretty rare.
    Of all the options presented by Seth, I reckon this is the one to goal. It's durable and most likely to be trustworthy. I have an instinctive concern for stuff that is built on a "flash-in-the-pan" foundation.

    *Can you believe this post passed the spell checker

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