Viral is good, word-of-mouth is good; but being viral and the talk of the town for something bad is not favourable to a business. This can break a business down to smithereens. That’s why, businesses needs to consider how customers and online users can make or break them with a click.
Take for instance, this campaign that attempts to get viral. The advertisement was heavily criticised for its ambiguity in its message, with many mocking the story line of the advertisement. Many had perceived the message to be that only celebrities can make the world a better place. According to Kaplan and Haelein, messages that are provocative or controversial can act like a “double edged sword”, which was the case for Pepsi. Pepsi had to remove the video from their own channel and apologise for the offence. As Kaplan and Haelein proposed, this is what they envision as a “homemade issue”.
So then when does viral content help or “make” a campaign? Have a look at the hidden-camera prank video below. This campaign is what I believe to be a triumph.
The video was apart of an Integrated Marketing Campaign to premiere their horror movie, Carrie. The prank video went viral with 36+ million views in a week with its high impact message and execution. So what was the end result? 2.1 million shares within the month it was uploaded, endless coverage from media outlets and overall great publicity. Many were entertained by the video and were even interested to see the movie.
Not every campaign can go viral. Even if they do, they might not go viral for what they envision.
On that note, what’s your thoughts on incorporating viral marketing techniques into a business’ Integrated Marketing Campaign plan and can such viral content backfire terribly?
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Great blog Carmen! I do believe that incorporating viral marketing into a integrated marketing campaign can be very bring about many benefit for a brand, but it is also risky as there are factors like the people’s reaction that cannot be predicted in any way. The people’s reaction to the Pepsi ad was really shallow of the Pepsi brand to have come out with something that would backfire so quickly. Do you think that brands should focus on normal marketing techniques to be safe, or take on the risk to compete on viral marketing?
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Thanks for the comment!
I think brands should have a combination of normal marketing techniques and viral marketing. Viral marketing is tricky and unpredictable so it;s probably wise to have normal marketing techniques to back them up first. Then add some elements of viral marketing once they are well established and are willing to take the risk.
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Hey Carmen, love this piece and yes I believe that incorporating viral marketing can open great doors in terms of reach and engagement for a business. There are numerous ways and platforms brands can use to create awareness and spread their message to their customers. If brands do not take advantage of these tools it may impact the opportunities and exposure they could gain form these techniques.
However, I do agree that viral marketing is rather risky and can ruin the reputation of certain brands, but these brands should understand that their campaigns may be shared with people all over the world and should take that into consideration when developing campaigns. It is definitely challenging and hard to determine how the public will receive certain ads but if companies are choosing to produce campaigns that may spark controversy or target specific issues in the world, they should definitely tread with caution and be prepared for how their message will be received, with both a positive and negative mindset.
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I totally agree with what you said. There are pros and cons in this technique, and it’s hard to predict how the public will respond to a campaign. If a company is willing to come out with a campaign that can be deem as controversial, then it’s up to them on how they will respond to the outcome and how they would strategically change potential bad publicity into a positive one.
Thanks for the comment!
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