Word-of-mouth on the web
Viral Marketing: This trendy tool offers extraordinary opportunities, but also comes with a number of risks.
Viral marketing The trendy tool holds extraordinary opportunities, but also a number of dangers. In the winter of 2005, an 85-year-old British lady made headlines. Together with her dachshund Daisy, she wanted to climb Everest. The story turned out to be a clever advertising campaign by the Swiss mountain sports outfitter Mammut. Marketing professionals call such or similar campaigns viral marketing. The idea is quite simple. While classic advertising campaigns seek consumers through advertisements, for example, viral marketing focuses on the consumer. Because of its unusual character, a message is transmitted virtually from user to user via websites, blogs, e-mails or chat rooms. In this way, messages are spread to private individuals within a very short period of time. Social networks are exploited to spread the word. The motto is word-of-mouth propaganda. Since the network-like spreading resembles the behavior of a biological virus, this form is therefore also called viral marketing.
Since the Internet has been spreading and networking has been growing, the processes of spreading unusual messages have been running at a fast pace and have become veritable epidemics. A prominent example: the grouse. The Johnnie Walker company offered the game for free download, and it became an absolute cult game on the Internet within a very short time. Another example: the film "Blair Witch Project," which was released as a low-budget production in 1999. The film was a success not least because the filmmakers succeeded in generating word of mouth via e-mail and on forums.
Too small for big campaignsViral marketing is definitely in vogue in Switzerland, too. However, still on a modest scale, says Markus Gabriel, owner of the Zurich-based crossover agency Angelink. "Viral marketing is not yet so strongly in the consciousness of the clients," says Gabriel. In addition, Switzerland is very small for larger campaigns and is therefore not considered a hotbed of viral marketing.
However, Swiss companies will not be able to avoid monitoring the Internet and its development more closely. Monitoring the blogosphere, for example, is not yet being done quite as seriously, says Gabriel. The fact is that people communicate and exchange opinions on the Internet. That's why Gabriel systematically analyzes the networks on the Internet that can be used for viral marketing. Today, 80 percent of all Internet sites are operated by private individuals.
Even though viral marketing is highly dynamic and the worldwide spread of the Internet is conducive to it: the networked pool of opinions presents not only opportunities but also dangers. One of the dangers is often underestimated: the boomerang principle. Even though today messages can be spread within a very short period of time, it is possible for users to quickly launch a counter-attack or a counter-campaign.
Take Jean-Remy von Matt, partner of the Jung von Matt agency: When he sent an e-mail of frustration to his employees, criticizing the way bloggers were criticizing the You Are Germany campaign, it only took a few minutes for his letter to be posted on numerous blogs. Consequence: Von Matt put some of his statements into perspective and apologized for his remarks. Or take Chevrolet: In mid-March, Chevrolet launched a website that allowed visitors to complete a number of video clips with their own advertising slogans. Many Internet users reacted cynically to this and referred to the problem of global warming.
For Markus Gabriel, viral marketing has a future despite its unpredictable momentum. Gabriel: "In every company there is a prankster who tells jokes during breaks or sends an email laugh to his colleagues. You have to take advantage of that."
Christian Lüscher
Vegetarian GameMiss the Chicken
is the name of an online game similar to Moorhuhn. The winner is not the player who shoots the most chickens, but who exceptionally hits none. The game, which was specially designed for vegetarians in cooperation with Wirz Werbung, attracts younger customers to the Hiltl restaurant. The game was produced by the Zurich-based company Visioprint (www.hiltl.ch).
Since the Internet has been spreading and networking has been growing, the processes of spreading unusual messages have been running at a fast pace and have become veritable epidemics. A prominent example: the grouse. The Johnnie Walker company offered the game for free download, and it became an absolute cult game on the Internet within a very short time. Another example: the film "Blair Witch Project," which was released as a low-budget production in 1999. The film was a success not least because the filmmakers succeeded in generating word of mouth via e-mail and on forums.
Too small for big campaignsViral marketing is definitely in vogue in Switzerland, too. However, still on a modest scale, says Markus Gabriel, owner of the Zurich-based crossover agency Angelink. "Viral marketing is not yet so strongly in the consciousness of the clients," says Gabriel. In addition, Switzerland is very small for larger campaigns and is therefore not considered a hotbed of viral marketing.
However, Swiss companies will not be able to avoid monitoring the Internet and its development more closely. Monitoring the blogosphere, for example, is not yet being done quite as seriously, says Gabriel. The fact is that people communicate and exchange opinions on the Internet. That's why Gabriel systematically analyzes the networks on the Internet that can be used for viral marketing. Today, 80 percent of all Internet sites are operated by private individuals.
Even though viral marketing is highly dynamic and the worldwide spread of the Internet is conducive to it: the networked pool of opinions presents not only opportunities but also dangers. One of the dangers is often underestimated: the boomerang principle. Even though today messages can be spread within a very short period of time, it is possible for users to quickly launch a counter-attack or a counter-campaign.
Take Jean-Remy von Matt, partner of the Jung von Matt agency: When he sent an e-mail of frustration to his employees, criticizing the way bloggers were criticizing the You Are Germany campaign, it only took a few minutes for his letter to be posted on numerous blogs. Consequence: Von Matt put some of his statements into perspective and apologized for his remarks. Or take Chevrolet: In mid-March, Chevrolet launched a website that allowed visitors to complete a number of video clips with their own advertising slogans. Many Internet users reacted cynically to this and referred to the problem of global warming.
For Markus Gabriel, viral marketing has a future despite its unpredictable momentum. Gabriel: "In every company there is a prankster who tells jokes during breaks or sends an email laugh to his colleagues. You have to take advantage of that."
Christian Lüscher
Vegetarian GameMiss the Chicken
is the name of an online game similar to Moorhuhn. The winner is not the player who shoots the most chickens, but who exceptionally hits none. The game, which was specially designed for vegetarians in cooperation with Wirz Werbung, attracts younger customers to the Hiltl restaurant. The game was produced by the Zurich-based company Visioprint (www.hiltl.ch).
