Developing a succesful viral campaign

One of the most defining marketing trends of the decade, viral marketing has seen both big and small brands launch viral videos, release product information over social networks, court the blogoshpere and encouraged people to spread the news by word-of-mouth (Ferguson, 2008)

Developing a successful viral campaign relies largely on the content that you put out there, however a large amount of the success stems from pure luck. Social media director at Ogilvy & Mather Advertising London, James Whatley believes their is no answer to the question of how to develop a successful campaign;

"You may as well read an instruction manual on how to win the lottery, yes you might pick up a few tips, but any major success will be purely accidental." however he does agree that quality content will help; "Viral hits ride the zeitgeist, they capture the imagination, but they also have significant investment behind them to ensure that enough eyes turn into enough clicks and enough shares." (Twentyman, 2014)

Going viral for a business can bring considerable advantages. Successful campaigns will spread the word of your company or a product or service at high speed; it can generate a huge buzz prior to release and encourage people to trial and activate purchase.

Customer loyalty is something every business strives for and to build true customer loyalty, your viral campaign must connect at the front end of your customer strategy, open a doorway into customer data collection, and then connect on the back end to engage your most valuable segments (Ferguson, 2008)

When viral marketing works well...

Old Spice "Smell like a man, man" campaign

Old Spice's campaign was a huge viral hit, it was recipient of several commercial awards and had a significant impact on not only Old Spice sales, but sales across the overall franchise.

Here are some amazing figures from the campaign;

• Nearly 105 million YouTube views of the campaign
• 1.2 billion earned media impressions, including features on national broadcast networks and international media outlets
• 2700% increase in Twitter followers
• 800% increase in Facebook fan interaction
• 300% increase in traffic to oldspice.com
• Old Spice has become the #1 Most Viewed sponsored YouTube Channel

(P&G, 2013)

The advert uses persuasion and strong theory advertising to promote the product. The ad is able to convey all the information through humour, with the product the main focus throughout. The persuasive advert inspires action towards a purchase and with sales achieved, the campaign can be considered a success.


When viral marketing goes wrong...

Dr Pepper Facebook status takeover



In an attempt to relate to their younger audience, Dr Pepper and creative agency Lean Mean Fighting machine put together a campaign in which they gave contestants a chance to win £1000 if they handed over control of their Facebook status updates, so that literally anything could be posted.

The idea was there and in many ways their methodology was smart. Rather than encouraging customers go to the brand (Dr.Peppers) Facebook page, users were allowing Dr.Pepper onto their personal profiles and in doing this, bringing their social graph into contact with the brand (Keane, 2010)

 WIth updates ranging from embarrassing to hilarious, one status over stepped the mark and saw a 14 year-old girls mum voice her concerns, ultimately seeing coca-cola (the owners of dr.pepper) being forced to pull the campaign.

 The campaign failed to note that not all Facebook users are in the same demographic and more importantly forgot to consider the loss of control when things go viral. Once a video or product is out their on social networking sites, it is then up to the reader and in some cases consumer to do with it what they please. This campaign saw a situation in which the companies reputation could have been severely effected, down to the actions of a single Facebook user.

Tips on creating a good campaign

It is clear that there is no real formula for success with viral marketing, however there is several steps you can take to improve the odds of creating a successful campaign;

- Create the best possible content. It should be highly creative and relevant to an audience.

- Utilize all available communications channels to encourage the word to be spread.

- Create conversation. Make sure your campaign includes something people want to talk about

- Balance branding with quality content. Demonstrate why people should like you instead of telling them why.

- Try to make content interesting immediately. The first 5-10 seconds should captivate audience straight away.

Check out more great tips here: http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=4179


Reference

Ferguson, R.. (2008). Word of mouth and viral marketing: taking the temperature of the hottest trends in marketing. Journal of Consumer Marketing. 25 (3), 179-182.

Keane, 2010. (2010). Dr Pepper learns about social media boundaries the hard way. Available: https://econsultancy.com/blog/6300-dr-pepper-and-the-case-of-the-obnoxious-ad-agency#i.chuc3d18vmfdmy. Last accessed 8/5/2014.

P&G. (2013). Latest Innovations: The “Smell Like a Man, Man” Campaign:.Available: https://www.pg.com/en_US/downloads/innovation/factsheet_OldSpice.pdf. Last accessed 8/5/2014.

Twentyman, J.. (2014 ). The secret to viral video marketing. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/26/secret-to-viral-video-marketing. Last accessed 8/5/2014

How brand managers can engage bloggers to increase their brands reach.

 The web makes a mass audience potentially available to ordinary consumers. This post will focus on fashion bloggers, how they acquire an audience by iterated displays of aesthetic discrimination of clothing and how brand managers can use this to engage their audience(Mcquarrie et al, 2012)

Brands engaging with bloggers has become an essential part of a companies online marketing strategy- not only from an SEO perspective, but also for brand advocacy, social visibility and opportunities to increase revenue (Mcquater, 2013) 

Top brands are identifying the need to get online influencers and in particular bloggers with large audiences, on board to help promote online campaigns and subsequently contribute to the brands SEO ranking. The purchasing behaviour of the everyday consumer has become increasingly influenced by online reviews through blog posting rather than more traditional advertising. Because of this brands are adapting their marketing strategies to target these bloggers and influence opinions and social conversations around their product offering. 

The key to building relationships between the brand and the blogger is providing them with content that is relevant to their personality, style and audience (Haviland, 2013). It is important that brands carefully manage the relationship between them and the blogger. Neither party would want to see their reputation damaged as it could have a negative effect on either sides business. The trick is to get the blogger on your side, by creating a relationship. Once trust has been built between both the brand and the blogger, this will increase your brands awareness amongst their audience and could generate large revenues for your company.  

Who does it well?

Uniqlo

In a bid to engage with its younger, more fashion conscious audience, Uniqlo introduced a new campaign that saw a commissioned group of fashion bloggers create unique content on their collection with Celia Birtwell, as well as an additional social competition. The campaign was a huge success with a social network reach of over 150,000 and an 80% increase in revenue.

European digital and CRM manager for Uniqlo, Alice Frost had this to say on the campaign:“We’re always keen to find new and innovative ways to work with online influencers to help engage and inspire our customers on a personal level, the most successful approach for us is to create bespoke campaigns and experiences that bloggers and their followers can get genuinely excited about"

F&F

Unlike models or movie stars, bloggers are far easier for the average person to relate to. They use online blogs to show off their unique styles and tastes and their audience look to them as icons with styles that they themselves can emulate.  F&F used this to their advantage when they invited Five women aged between 19 and 28 with a variety of backgrounds and interests. The blog posts would be unique to each women's style be it vintage to plus sized clothing, they would then link this back to F&F's collections.

Jillian Lidgate, Head of Online Marketing at F&F Clothing comments: “The internet has transformed the world of fashion and bloggers can now be as influential as major publishers. Online fashion has become part of daily life, as people research their outfits and accessories with image-led social networks like Tumblr, which is home to a vibrant and creative international fashion community” 

Tips on blogger outreach

A single relationship with the right blogger could lead to thousands of instant relationships with targeted readers who fully trust that particular source; not to mention the back links (Politi, 2011)

Here are some great ways in which a brand can improve its blogger outreach;

- Ensure you are targeting relevant bloggers. If the blog isn't relevant or authoritative over its audience, then the content within the post will not have the desired effect.

- Adopt a personal approach straight away with the bloggers. Rather than an impersonal, generic email, approach them based on the understanding that their interest is ideal for the concept you have.

- Your ideas are key. Approach a blogger with something that he or she will be excited about and keen to pursue. This way it will make the process a lot more natural with both parties interested in the campaign.

- Be clear with what you want to achieve. Bloggers are fully aware that a brand is contacting them for their own personal gain, so be honest with the blogger and they will create content that will help you achieve the brands goals.

References

Haviland, M. (2013). What brand managers should know about engaging with fashion bloggers. Available: http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1219027/brand-managers-know-engaging-fashion-bloggers. Last accessed 8/5/2014.

Mcquarrie, E. Miller, J. and Phillips, B.. (2012). The Megaphone Effect: Taste and Audience in Fashion Blogging. Journal of Business Research. 40 (3), 136.

Mcquater K.. (2013). Getting in with the crowd: How brands are using blogger engagement to build advocacy, boost search visibility and increase revenue. Available: http://www.thedrum.com/news/2013/12/17/getting-crowd-how-brands-are-using-blogger-engagement-build-advocacy-boost-search. Last accessed 7/5/2014.

Politi, S. (2011). Blogger Outreach: 5 Tips for Connecting With Top Influencers. Available: http://mashable.com/2011/10/01/blogger-outreach-tips/. Last accessed 8/5/2014.

How Nike uses its customers to co-create value.

Co-creation involves the creative, inclusive and meaningful engagements with stakeholders to mutually expand value. It s not about transactional interactions, rather sustained engagement between partners (Towers, 2011)

Customers have become more informed, connected, networked and empowered through internet search engines and social platforms. Because of this, customers are now involved within the value creation process, as they use these platforms to have their ideas and opinions heard.

Rather than worry about the effect an online influencer or a customer review can have on a company, businesses should look to use these platforms to encourage growth and form a competitive advantage.
 Sportswear giants Nike have successfully worked the co-creation of value process into their innovation and marketing strategies. These strategies are implemented through continuous interactions with the consumer, through which the company can accumulate knowledge of the market and develop its skills in different areas. These interactions strengthen a firm’s capacity to use global network resources and thematic communities to continuously identify and act upon new innovation and value creation opportunities (Ramaswamy, 2008).

This post will look into scenarios in which Nike have engaged the consumer in the process of creating value and from this we can see how this process can be beneficial to other companies.

Nike and the 2006 World Cup

In celebration of the 2006 World Cup, Nike linked up with Google to set up social networking site, joga.com. In short the website allowed football fans to upload videos of them performing soccer skills, which the online community would then comment on, rate and share the footage and vote for the best video on a monthly basis. The site amassed over one million members, giving Nike a unique opportunity to learn from their customer.

 To coincide with the website, Nike supported this campaign with sponsored soccer events, another website connecting fans to their favourite professional footballers and viral video campaigns featuring Nike soccer athletes.

The world famous Joga Bonito advert featuring Ronaldinho was downloaded over 32 million times!

Nike also worked their Nike ID website into the campaign, asking 20 sneaker purveyors to design a new shoe for Nike. They then asked their internet community to vote for the best design, which once again allowed and encourage interaction.

This campaign provided Nike with a huge platform to connect with football fans all over the world. It allowed Nike to promote and build its online presence and engagement platforms, through which they can establish customer relationships on a scale unseen before.

Nike ID 

Back in 2009, the NikeID platform announced figures of over $100million in revenue. This proved that this movement wasn't a mere trend and rather a profitable business for a company, as consumers look to be empowered to become their own designer.

Nike ID and this form of co-creation can bring many benefits to a company and the consumer:

- There is greater alignment between demand and supply.
- Easy to use and fun.
- Web based shopping experience is more engaging.
- Rather than mass producing, companies are working with the customer to fill the demand. This way they can reduce the inefficiencies of production.

Nike+

The Nike+ website is a haven for runners. A place in which they can upload data of their recent runs, see and share history of their runs with friends, exchanging comments and suggesting run locations and even get tips and information on upcoming running events. Again this website is highly engaging, giving the customers a reason to return. The website isn't sale focused, rather it encourages and sustains long term relationships and collaborations with their customers and this can be worth far more to Nike than a one-off sale. It's a classic win-win situation, while customers interact with friends and boost their fitness regimes, Nike are gaining valuable information on their demographics and how their products are being used in real life situations.

The Dart Model

                                                                                        (Ramaswamy, 2008)

Co-creating value with customers involves rapid and continuous learning by the firm from interactions with them about how they relate to the options and features that the firm has on offer and how those offerings might be of more value to customers. (Ramaswamy, 2008).

 Using the above DART model, we can analyse how the Nike+ system encourages meaningful dialogue between the consumer and the company. The Nike+ system allows for useful dialogues between the runners themselves, between the runners and Nike and between Nike and running experts.
 The model looks into four guidelines: dialogue, access, transparancy and risk and return, which Nike set to establish best practices.

The future possibilities of co-creation

 The benefits of co-creation certainly out-way the drawbacks and the way in which Nike has utilised these platforms and created opportunities to engage with its customer on huge scales has seen them rise above their competitors to really cement their place as market leader.
 There are several options to move forward with co-creation and as technologies develop, co-creation will become easier and a lot more frequent. More co-creation platforms will emerge as the likes of Facebook and other social media sites turn to co-creation as another form of engagement for its members. As mobile phone technology improves, co-creation could make its way onto hand held devices through apps and even game mechanics can be introduced into the co-creation process, making it far more exciting.

Be sure to check out this great insight into how co-creation communities work: http://peopleslab.mslgroup.com/peoplesinsights/5-co-creation-communities-ten-frontiers-for-the-future-of-engagement/



References
Ramaswamy, V. (2008). Co-creating value through customers’ experiences: the Nike case. Strategy and Leadership . 36 (5), 9-13.

Towers, S. (2011). Nike's co-dependency with its customers means business. Available: http://www.forbes.com/sites/infosys/2011/11/28/co-creation/. Last accessed 2/5/2014.