VIRAL MARKETING FOR THE MOVIE

Let's take it as a case study for viral marketing.
PROBLEM. Suppose, you have got to promote a movie. Then you need to praise it in all the possible ways, don't you? You need to publish ads etc. OK, this is a conventional way. Still you are thinking about something more creative. You are thinking about something 'viral'. You are thinking about people saying 'Wow!'.

CONTRADICTION. Then you get a sudden / unusual idea: instead of praising the movie - let us do it 'the other way round'. Instead of tedious complimenting - let us criticize it.
Is this already the final solution? Sure, it is not. You may not just say 'the movie is bad'. Bad is just bad - so why are you talking about this movie?
Formulating a contradiction means we are on the right way to solution.

SOLUTION. So we have got the contradiction 'criticizing vs praising'. How can we solve it? Can we praise and criticize at the same time?
The Theory tells: one of the ways to solve this contradiction is to divide the object (= the movie) to the parts. Now one of the parts may be criticized without damaging the whole movie.

REAL CASE. These very days you might see billboards around the city of Dallas – the ones that say: "My mom always hated you, Sarah Marshall" or "You do look fat in those jeans, Sarah Marshall."
Who is Sarah Marshall, and why is someone trying to publicly humiliate her?
If you wondered "Who is spending all this money to hurt Sarah Marshall?," then you fell for a viral marketing campaign. 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' is the comedy's name. It centers on Peter who is dumped by his girlfriend Sarah Marshall. The movie will play at the Dallas International Film Festival on April, but we see the campaign already now.
So, the initial contradiction has been solved: humiliating one of the characters, still complimenting the whole movie.

The above case study shows the viral marketing example built, first, on the principle of 'the other way round', second, on the principle of dividing the object to the parts.

WHERE TO GET VIRAL MARKETING CASE STUDIES?

Reading the site of WOMMA (= Word of Mouth Marketing Association), I have found plenty of 'case studies' and viral marketing examples.
However, the WOMMA terminology is a little bit different. They prefer the term 'Word of Mouth Marketing' instead of 'Viral Marketing'. Because they think 'Word of Mouth' is a broader term than 'Viral'. The last is only a part of the first. The 'Word of Mouth Marketing' comprises, in itself, many types of marketing as, for example, 'Buzz Marketing', 'Community Marketing', 'Grassroots Marketing', 'Viral Marketing' of course, and others. As for me, I can add one more term I have found recently: 'peer-to-peer marketing'.

HOW TO MAKE VIRAL MARKETING THROUGH HIRING FOLKS?

More and more I see this simple & effective viral marketing example: job ads as if a company is hiring folks. What happens? 'Join us', 'Recruitment', 'Vacancies', 'Career' - all this buzz is passing on from one guy to another.
The fresh example is the site of Microsoft Israel R&D Center.
Another example is about Google. In 2004 Google Labs published so called GLAT - Google Labs Aptitude Test. Readers were asked to mail in their answers and promised that they would be contacted by Google if they scored well.
The declared reason was to attract high quality people into their ranks. Actually, it was a clever viral marketing which generated a lot of interest.
How does it improve the company PR image?
1. The public gets the idea that the company (= Google Labs, in this case) is hiring only very clever folks.
2. The public gets the reminder that the company is on the map.
3. You get much buzz, interest and involvement about this point.

Now I remember one example more. In September 2006 the Shin Bet (= Shabak, the Internal Security Service of Israel) launched its first-ever public recruitment drive. The employment campaign was targeting computer programmers.

The viral marketing example for brains, intellectuals and know-it-all guys is declare that you are hiring folks.

VIRAL MARKETING EXAMPLE: BRAND & PRODUCT IDENTIFICATION

While talking about viral marketing examples, we should remember that viral marketing started much before the Internet era.
Let us see the examples about brands or trademarks.
As you know, 'Jeep' is a registered trademark of Chrysler. Not all 4x4 or off-road vehicles are to be called 'Jeep'. Still, as a matter of fact, you hear the word 'Jeep' in the meaning 'off-road vehicle', even if it is made in Japan or Korea. I heard it in Russia, Belarus & Israel.
Then, do you know that in Russia 'Pampers' means a disposable diaper? Not only diapers marketed by Procter & Gamble but all kinds of diapers.
More examples:
'Xerox' means 'copier' (= copying machine) of each kind and not only a copier of Xerox per se.
Tampax means a tampon, in spite of its being a brand of Procter & Gamble.
Thanks to Alexandr Blokhin for the above examples (in Russian).
A flush toilet (= Water Closet) is called in Russia 'Unitas', because of the Spanish company 'Unitas" in the beginning of 20th century.
Do you think those examples characterize Russia only? No, there are examples everywhere. In UK the popular word for a flush toilet is 'crapper'. Why? Thomas Crapper's company built such toilets in 1880s. After the company received a royal warrant, Crapper's name became synonymous with flush toilets.
In Israel 'pelephone' means a cellphone, because the Israeli-based telecommunications company "Pelephone" was the first to offer mobile phone services in the beginning of 1990s. Then the brand-name "Pelephone" became the ubiquitous term for mobile phones in Israel.
Some more examples from Israel: 'vespa' means a motorscooter, 'venta' means a fan, 'fluke' means an electrician's multimeter.
Now there is a fresh example about Google: some people say they "googled" something as a synonym for searching.
There is a special term for these cases: 'Genericized trademark', or 'generic trade mark', or 'proprietary eponym'.
Some classic examples are, as well: Scotch Tape, Jacuzzi (whirlpool bathtubs), Sellotape, Aspirin.

Be the first on the market and make your brand a generic trade mark.

VIRAL MARKETING EXAMPLE: MUSIC VIDEO

Thanks to Robert F. Hogeboom, I have learned about a successful viral marketing example.
What's great about it?
As you know, viral marketing means self promoting message. So, which principles can we learn out of this example?
First, what is the story behind the case?
Presidential candidate Barack Obama delivered a speech on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. 'Yes We Can' was the speech motto.
Afterwards a hip-hop singer created music video using the same lyrics 'Yes We Can'. As his distribution platform, the singer chose the largest online video site, YouTube. Its popularity has been great = over 13 million views to date.
Watching the video, what do we see?
* Authenticity. It seems to come out of the heart. 'Home made' style.
* Simplicity. It is just black & white, as opposed to the usual colorful TV shows.
* The video is calm, quiet, soft, gentle. Not noisy rallies.
* The distribution platform is not the last point.

So, we learn a few principles of this viral marketing example: authenticity, simplicity, softness, and a good platform.

VIRAL MARKETING EXAMPLE: FUN VIDEO

Which problem do you need to solve in your marketing effort?
You wish your potential customers to receive your message, and not just to receive but to pass it on to others, don't you?
So this is the point. Why would the customers pass along your message voluntarily? This is your challenge.
So, you need to make them say "This is fun!". Let us see one viral marketing example. This is a video promoting 'F-Series' truck of Ford. Several videos show you situations when a guy (driving a F-150 truck) is punished for not being 'tough' enough. For example, one driver is arrested for wearing a pink shirt ('No pink shirts for Ford tough guys!'). Another is obliged to pour his caffe latte out ('NO FANCY COFFEE') etc.
Ford trucks are for 'tough' guys - this is the message that you as a viral marketing transmitter are supposed to pass along.
One more thing. There is a button 'SHARE' on the video, so you are reminded to send the video to your friends.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN FEATURES OF VIRAL MARKETING?

Today I have read the article Marketing More Powerful Than SEO. It brings some successful viral marketing examples from the near past: Xbox, Gmail, Viral Videos.
These are the article headings:
* Anatomy of Viral Marketing
* Buzz-worthy Sites Stroke People's Egos
* Buzz-worthy Sites Promise to Amaze
* Buzz-worthy Sites are Original
* Considering Buzz for Your Business

There are useful ideas and good viral marketing examples.

WHAT IS VIRAL MARKETING? JUST ONE INSTANCE

What is viral marketing? It encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others. It facilitates people to pass along a message voluntarily!
Off the Internet, there have been expressions as "word-of-mouth," "creating a buzz," "leveraging the media," "network marketing." But on the Internet it's called "viral marketing."
A few days ago I received an email from 'Bad Language' about illusionist Derren Brown’s televised 'Russian Roulette'. I became interested and went to Derren Brown’s site. Then I started searching in Youtube for his clips, and found a lot of his stunts and tricks on NLP, Subliminal Advertising etc.

So, that's how the viral marketing worked in this case: email --> Derren Brown's site on Russian roulette --> youtube --> other Derren Brown's clips.

PR TIP: PUBLISH A TEST

In 2004 Google Labs published so called GLAT - Google Labs Aptitude Test.
Readers were asked to mail in their answers and promised that they would be contacted by Google if they scored well.
The declared reason was to attract high quality people into their ranks. Actually, it was a clever PR move which generated a lot of interest from it.
First, the public gets the idea that the company (= Google Labs, in this case) is hiring only very clever folks.
Second, the public gets the reminder that the company is on the map.
Third, you get much buzz, interest and involvement about this point. Public involvement is necessary for good PR. You may call it even 'viral marketing'.

The PR move for brains, intellectuals and know-it-all guys is to publish a test as if you were hiring folks.