New Media Age, July 18 2002

Vision article in Forum section by Justin Kirby, managing director, DMC

Veteran reporter John Lawton said: “The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to uninformed opinion.”

Nowhere does this seem more appropriate than in online viral marketing.

The danger with this marketing technique is that practitioners’ assumptions about what does and doesn’t spread - and recommendations about what clients should and shouldn’t be doing - can be based on questionable personal bias or limited production preferences.

It’s worth remembering that not everyone who uses new media works in it. As for every other medium, no matter what practitioners dream up, the market will ultimately decide what it wants - and finding out what that is for viral marketing should be within our remit. After all, the Internet provides online techniques with an enviable level of accountability.

So what do we really know about online viral marketing?

Firstly, viral material is hugely popular. In fact, it’s so popular that IFILM’s Viral Channel is now one of the top three categories on their huge US web site which serves 7 million users a month. In the UK, Lycos launched their Viral Chart in May and it has already become one of the most frequently visited sections of their site, drawing 70,000 users a week.

According to Lycos user preference, by far the most popular formats are pictures and text-based jokes. The next most popular format is digital video clips. Contrary to uninformed opinion, Flash-type games are the least popular, which may be a result of the over-abundance of material in this format. It also seems that the plethora of Flash games online is leading to shorter lifespans for all viral material, although this may just be the result of the overall clutter of viral content as everyone jumps on the bandwagon.

Either way, there’s already a need for viral material to increase its quality in order to stand out from the crowd. This can be done in a number of ways, including: integrating viral campaigns with other activities such as PR; using them as pre-launch teasers by adopting a ‘web only’ or ‘web first’ creative strategy; tapping into or even ambushing topical subjects (the World Cup, BB3, other brand’s high-profile campaigns (as the Lilt Levi’s spoof has done), etc.).

Another way to stand out from the crowd now is to use digital video clips. They may not yet be the most downloaded format overall according to Lycos Viral Chart statistics (because there are fewer in circulation), however three out of the four most popular virals ever on Lycos are videos. More significantly for clients, the spread of video clips can be tracked and proven more easily than that of any other viral material, making this mechanism highly accountable. (And contrary to what the uninformed think, the tracking process doesn’t involve any insidious technical practice nor anti-data protection activities.)

In conclusion, we know a fair few facts about viral marketing. We know there’s a market for viral material. We know that users’ most popular formats are low-tech, low interaction. We know there’s a growing clutter of material that needs a corresponding increase in quality (of concept, strategy, execution) if your campaign is to stand out. But our knowledge doesn’t end there. We should continuously test and refine our understanding of this marketing technique to ensure that our recommendations and experiences are translated into meaningful campaigns, to satisfy both clients and the market.