McDonalds + Music= Viral Success?

"Two all beef patties, special sauce..."

Do you remember those lines from the past Big Mac chant campaigns? Well, McDonalds is bringing the campaign back with a different, fresh twist. Personally, I think this campaign will be better than ever. The campaign is interactive and consumer-generated and allows customers to create their own songs and/or music videos to the McDonalds chant. The consumer-generated songs and videos can then be uploaded to Myspace. McDonalds partnered up with Myspace for the campaign's contest to find the most interesting song or video. I really like the idea of the consumer-generated campaign. It draws more attention to the product and helps to spread the campaign virally. It allows the consumers to truly interact with the brand and product. Also, it is definitely a brilliant idea because of the popularity of sites like Youtube. It is a smart move by McDonalds to capitalize on the video-sharing phenomenon. There are many people out there who love to create videos and music. So, why not use it to their advantage? The winner of the contest will have their video or song featured in a future McDonalds commercial. So, McDonalds great job on this campaign. I think it will be successful...I am totally "lovin' it."

Check out the campaign here: BIG MAC!

The Un-Intentional "Sexy" Wii Fit Viral Campaign

Nintendo denied it. But, could Nintendo have launched a viral campaign promoting their latest and popular game, Wii Fit? It's a possibility. The supposed campaign is the video, entitled "Why every guy should buy their girlfriend Wii Fit", which has been viewed more than 4 million times on popular video sharing site, Youtube. The couple in the video stated that despite the fact that they are both in the marketing industry, it's not a viral ad. Nintendo denied any connection with the video as well stating, "This has and is absolutely 100 percent nothing to do with Nintendo.Nintendo did not create it and were not aware of it until it was brought it to our attention." The couple claims it was filmed secretly and that the girlfriend who was filmed was initially angry.

In my opinion, I think the couple knew what they were doing. The couple wanted that internet fame. I think the couple was clearly bored and was looking to do something funny. I don't think Nintendo used the couple for a viral campaign. However, Nintendo should use the free publicity to their advantage. In the marketing industry, brand awareness is extremely important. The video makes the viewers aware of the product and its "special features" that come along with it. It has grabbed many people's attention and will possibly help increase some sales of Nintendo. So, Nintendo use this free publicity to your advantage and make even more people love your console and its products.

NBC's American Gladiators: Interactive and Viral Campaign

I recently fell into a viral campaign, which I feel is necessary to discuss here because it truly shows you how viral marketing works. Yesterday, I came across a friend's Myspace bulletin which contained a hilarious video relating to NBC's show, American Gladiators. After the video was viewed, the video linked you directly to their website. So, there are two positives in that because the video and website help to promote the show and allow viewers to become more aware of it. The link actually brought you to their games section of the website, which allowed people to interact with the brand in different ways such as creating the video. Hence, the show has used both viral and interactive marketing to further engage the viewer's attention. Both are positive ways to market the show. The video basically was a parody of the show and allowed you to put someone's face on someone else's body during the entire video. I thought it was a brilliant idea, which slightly reminded me of Office Max's viral campaign during the holiday season that allowed individuals to put their friends or family in elf costumes. I thought it was so hilarious that me and a fellow co-worker decided to try it out ourselves, so we placed our supervisor's headshot in the video. I must say the result was pretty funny and it gave us relevant experience on how a viral campaign starts. After posting the video on our company blog, the video started to spread virally. Now, it makes me wonder who else has tried putting someone else's face on these videos. Our experiment with the game gave us a great firsthand experience to see how viral campaigns can spread so quickly.

The Tasty Way To A Viral Campaign

Have you heard of the tasty new ways to launch a viral campaign? Well, Welch’s has come up with a different way to market their product. Some of their recent ads have featured a lickable insert that allows consumers to taste test the product before purchasing it. Good idea? I definitely think so! The campaign has garnered a lot of buzz and allowed the product and brand to get awareness. Welch’s worked with the company, First Flavor, to deliver the idea that would receive well-deserved attention. According to an article, “Everyone from Diane Sawyer to Al Roker was talking about it, making it seem like the latest fad.”

In my opinion, it deserves the attention it received because it is something different and fresh. I feel it could definitely be a new fad in the making. So, consumers beware…you may be seeing more taste strips in you future.

I was talking to a co-worker today about the idea and she thought it was absolutely brilliant. I mean, if you saw the ad would you tell the people you know? I would and I did. According to a study conducted by Starch Communications, a division of GfK Custom Research North America, the Peel 'n Taste flavor strips helped to raise awareness and increased purchase consideration with consumers, for those who are brave enough to try them.I think the best thing about this campaign is the viral aspect of it. Viral marketing helps to spread the word and can help produced result. A full 70% of people interviewed remembered seeing the ad. Of that group, 62% took some action, from mentioning it to others to actually purchasing the juice. Those results put the ad on par with an eight-page insert, as measured against Starch Adnorm figures. Those numbers are pretty incredible.

So, it makes me wonder what type of marketing is going to happen next? But, this is one of the most innovative things I’ve seen in awhile. Can you imagine seeing these taste strips in stores in the future? It could happen. I’m also looking forward to an upcoming campaign by the Anti-Smoking Florida Association, which will feature an advertisement with a taste strip that tastes like the bottom of an ashtray. The Anti-Smoking campaign is sure to get buzz and when it does, don’t forget that I told you so.

Disney's "Camp Rock": Viral Campaign Success?

Disney is at it, again! This time it isn’t High School Musical, but the up-and-coming movie, "Camp Rock". In my opinion, Disney has always done a great job with marketing their movies, but with the success of the "High School Musical" franchise they want to reach even more. Their new campaign for "Camp Rock" seems like it will be a very successful campaign that will spread virally. Through having younger siblings, I was able to see directly how word-of-mouth about a movie can spread among their demographic. I think the success of "High School Musical" had to do with the word-of-mouth catching everyone’s attention and curiosity. Everyone was like “What is High School Musical?” So, everyone was checking the movie out and seeing what the buzz was all about. I think "Camp Rock" has the potential to do the same. I am already hearing buzz about the movie from my younger siblings and others alike. The movie premiering June 20th on the Disney Channel stars the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato.



The marketing campaign for the movie includes a partnership with Target that will tie-in the movie with the retailer's latest "Hello, Good Buy" TV spots, featuring the Jonas Brothers singing the commercial’s song. Best Western and Ubisoft will pitch a "Camp Rock" sweepstakes. The Jonas Brothers will also have a customized issue of People magazine, hitting newsstands around the "Camp Rock" premiere. The magazine will also feature exclusive content about the movie. Promos will be aired in movie theaters via a new partnership with Screenvision, prior to movie trailers shown during family-friendly movies such as "Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" and "Kung Fu Panda."

When the movie premieres, fans can also listen to an audio simulcast of the movie on Radio Disney's 42 stations and on RadioDisney.com. But rather than rerun the movie for the remainder of the weekend, "Camp Rock" will move to Disney's broadcast sibling ABC for an exclusive premiere during "The Wonderful World of Disney," hosted by the Jonas Brothers. The movie hops over to ABC Family on June 22, before it moves to Disney.com the following Monday for full-length, full-screen video streams.

Lastly, there will be ways to purchase your own “Camp Rock” souvenirs such as the "Camp Rock" soundtrack or the DVD, which will be released a few weeks after the TV premiere.

The movie being shown on many platforms will allow for different metrics helping Disney distinguish between all forms of movie viewing. Through these different methods of showing the movie, Disney can possibly capture different audiences and gain more viewers. "High School Musical 2" reached a record 17.1 million viewers during its August premiere on Disney Channel alone.



Disney has the ability to be innovative and find the next new star and franchise. What they’re trying to do with all the new media is to find the next way to interact with their viewers.

I feel these methods will be an effective way to market. Fans will spread the word to other people and they will have access to the movie during different times. I can already see the herd of smiling children in excitement of all this Disney goodness! Disney also hopes this move keeps parents excited as well! Only time will tell if Disney’s efforts will be successful, but I feel we have a possible TV movie phenomenon in the making.

The "Camp Rock" campaign is the largest for any Disney Channel original movie, stated Richard Loomis, Disney's senior VP-marketing and creative.

Donuts, Scarves and Rachael Ray: Viral Marketing Ploy?

Dunkin Donuts didn’t know. However, their new online campaign with Rachael Ray went viral. But, was it their intention or not? I think not! Their online campaign starring Rachael Ray as the spokeswoman for Dunkin Donuts’ iced coffee caused controversy among the conservative bloggers. The controversy had nothing to do with Dunkin Donut’s coffee, but simply over Rachael Ray’s attire. Last weekend, Dunkin' Donuts decided to pull the online ad after conservative bloggers suggested the scarf she wore in the ad looked like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men that some associate with jihad. Margie Meyers, senior VP-communications for Dunkin’ Brands stated in an article, "Rachael Ray is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design. It was selected by the stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended."


Many people can argue that Dunkin Donuts intentionally used the scarf as a marketing ploy. These days advertisers and marketers are known for using more controversial ways to get their message across to audiences. However, I highly doubt that Dunkin Donuts’ intention was to cause uproar over Rachael Ray’s scarf. Was it successful? From a marketing standpoint, I think it was very successful because the controversy caused more people to visit the website and as a marketer, you want brand awareness for your product. So, Dunkin Donuts should be thankful to those conservatives who caused curious viewers to visit their website. I just find it funny how the conservative bloggers nitpicked a scarf’s design in a commercial. Seriously? Aren’t there more important things to worry about than a scarf?

What Makes A Viral Campaign Interesting?

I read an older article (2006) today on O’Reilly Radar about Web 2.0. If you’ve kept up with the online trends, then you know that this isn’t news, but there was an idea in particular that stood out and still seems to be key when it comes to using Web 2.0 for your company’s advantage. Consumers now not only want to get product or service information from a company’s website, but they also want to be able to discuss it among themselves, and get information from others who have experienced that product or service.

So, with all this said, the key to Web 2.0 success for companies is to get people talking about the product more than the company does. By starting forums, blogs, and social networking, companies can achieve that state of popularity or new age of advertising. For example, Audi recently engaged in an “alternate reality branding” campaign for its new A3 by staging a car theft scene from a dealership in New York. People were very intrigued by these events and started talking about it, blogging about it, posting videos, and other user-generated media. Turned out, that Audi managed to attract campaign zealous followers who would even show up at the dealership and post up flyers to help recover the stolen car and waited eagerly for updates on the thickening plot.

How do companies garner consumer interest in their campaign? Through relevancy. People are tired of irrelevant ads being bombarded at them from every direction; instead, now, with the availability of viral media, companies need to think of creative ways to position themselves in this new culture of online communities and retain interest while building communities. Check out Clickz.com, Suite101.com, and Goecart.com to get some ideas on how to keep a viral marketing campaign relevant and interesting.

What do Viral Marketing and Passing Gas Have in Common?

With the expansion of online social networking media, marketers now have another highly useful channel to utilize for spreading the word about their campaign. With the emergence of these channels, and now that the Internet is available to over 760 million people worldwide, viral marketing has had astonishing effects for pushing products, goods, services, and raise awareness. Recent studies show that 58% of the US population uses the Internet as a primary source to get information. This percentage is the highest among other traditional sources of information such as professional advisors, newspapers and magazines. Therefore, marketers have a great advantage when it comes to exploiting the Internet, because of its long reach. As far as viral marketing goes, the Internet is a gold mine for targeting specific niche audiences; even the fickle Gen-Yers, especially now with all the social networking sites available. With use of the Internet, viral marketing can take on many faces and use many themes to spread the word.
I was browsing through YouTube today and I came across what I thought was an excellent viral marketing commercial for Troegs Beer. Troegs Beer is a microbrewery from Harrisburg Pennsylvania that is run and crafted by two brothers. Considering that micro-breweries do not have the financial muscle or the audience to compete with behemoth breweries like Anhueser Busch or Coors, viral marketing is great way to go to reach the crowds that enjoy exclusivity as well as specialty products. This is nice, but what I really enjoyed about their commercial is that it was simple, and had a specific target: men or men who love beer. The commercial displayed a beautiful model in a yellow bikini describing the great taste and array of products; meanwhile she’s belching and farting. The use of potty humor has given this specific video on YouTube an excellent rating, over half a million views and many comments. After I watched that commercial, I started noticing that there were many food and drink commercials that utilized potty humor; and my best guess is that it’s entertaining, and in a gross way, authentic. There were several videos about girls passing gas in general; this must be a new trend.

What does all this mean? It means that with viral marketing, a marketer can maximize the use of that specific channel to an audience by being specific; and letting people with similar interests spread the word. With the expanding numbers of bloggers and the millions of members involved with social networks; the possibilities are endless, no matter how stinky.

We Didn't Start the Viral

Have you ever hit a brick wall when thinking about how to make your project go viral? The video below may just be what the doctor ordered for that nasty bump the wall probably left on your head!

The guys over at cakke.com pulled inspiration from Billy Joel to create the video below which covers all types of viral successes from the last few years or so.

While you're watching, it would be smart to think about the unique properties of each that drove them into infamy and how you might be able to apply them to your next viral campaign.

Enjoy!

Go Viral by Secret!

Sometimes, the best way to spread news is to tell a secret. You just need to know exactly who to tell the secret to.

Back in the grade school days, if you wanted to spread something, you'd tell that secret to a certain blabber-mouth friend that was a source of gossip and information for the entire class (or grade, or even school if you found the right person). The secret could be out quicker than if you outright told everyone yourself.

Why does it work? Everyone loves the secrecy and level of exclusivity of being a part of the secret, and even when the exclusivity has gone out the window, no one wants to be the last to know.

So, how can this be applied in internet marketing?

First, you have to identify the right group to start the message with. Following standard diffusion theory, you'd want to identify valuable groups like opinion leaders and mavens (those who go the extra mile to get the ball rolling for new products by helping others).

What if your product isn't new? This concept will be just as effective if it is not - because the target just has to perceive it as a new concept - it just has to be new to them.

Once you have identified the group, the message must be transmitted in a way so that the recipient sees value in sharing it with their online friends. The value can be monetary, such as a high amount of savings, convenience, or just plain fun. And mixing those concepts couldn't hurt either.

In addition, for the concept of secrecy to work, creative and effective copyrighting is a must. The following example is from the email that was sent by one of the best and most consistent copy writers of our time, Woot.com.


Sales of Microsoft's Zune MP3 player have been dwindling for various reasons including the release of Apple's new line of iPods. In addition, a new version of the product planned for release soon, so previous revisions of the product are collecting dust in warehouses. Woot.com saw an opportunity to take these players and sell them at discount rates to its customers, but to exhaust their supply, they had to get creative.


They started by offering the Zune at a discount price on their site, the price later dropped, and they issued a coupon to previous buyers for a future purchase. This unnecessary, but thoughtful step started a relationship with the Zune crowd that they had started to collect.

After waves of sales on the units, it is obvious that they still had not been completely tapped out. In a genius move by one of their marketers, they decided to reach out directly to their Zune crowd. They offered refurbished units at their lowest price ever and sent an exclusive email out only to those who had already bought a Zune from them. Excerpts from the email are below:

"..shhh... don't tell anyone! We have a limited quantity of official factory-refurbished black Zunes (now aka Zune 30's) to offer effective immediately. Our elite strikeforce of pirate-tongued, ninja-trained negotiation commandos worked their powers of persuasion to obtain every single official factory-refurb Zune 30. No, no blackmail, extortion, or coercion was involved (as far as we know). The point is, you won't see these anywhere else."

"Sneak a friend or two in if you want - this is indeed an exciting chance to join the Zune in-crowd..."

Did it work? I'm typing about it now, aren't I?

In the midst of a hard day's work, a friend gave me a call to tell me about it. I hadn't been interested in the previous iterations of the deal, but when he described the "secret" aspect, I must admit that my interest rose.

I am on the fence now, but that is a fence that I wouldn't be on without the promotion. I've even contacted others to converse about the deal since. Will they generate one or more sales from the original email sent to my friend? Surely.

And then there's this guy. According to pageviews, he told over 10,000 of his friends! I do believe it's safe to say quite a few sales were generated there.