Jumpstarting Your Virus
Curtis Hart
Recently, I was one of nine recipients of a friend’s email referring me to the Phillips Bodygroom website. This is an example of viral marketing at its best. In this Amway-esque example, each person passes the information on and soon enough there is a pyramid of people referring each other to the site.
Or perhaps not.
I didn't forward the site on. I didn't think it was that funny, the product wasn't that interesting and I didn’t see any novelty to the site. I can, however, appreciate the marketing campaign.
Word of mouth marketing or, in internet terms, viral marketing, is one of the hardest forms of promotion. But the payoffs are big. Viral marketing is often considered free because once you get the ball rolling, its momentum will carry the message to the far reaches of the market. The interest it generates is active, and people engage in the marketing, whereas other forms of marketing are passive. No one rips a print ad out, photocopies it and gives it to ten friends (not unless they are my mom and it's for a miracle vitamin.)
Every Virus Must Have Its Typhoid Mary.
Viral marketing hinges on the idea of one person telling many. What's impressive about the Bodygroom campaign is how well they have defined their market, created content for that market, and then seeded the virus. Getting men to shave their backs, chests, legs and "other areas" seems like a monumental task. Phillips seeded the virus by doing product tie-ins on the uncensored Howard Stern show. With a listenership of approximately 3 million, that’s one way of getting the ball rolling. Additionally it was targeted properly--if you’re a Stern listener you are not going to be offended by the website.
The Free Myth
What's free about a product tie-in on the Howard Stern Show? NOTHING! The same is true of other campaigns of this nature: American Express' Seinfeld and Superman web episodes used TV ads to seed the marketing process and BMW's web exclusive features with Clive Owen used "news" articles to jumpstart the viral marketing.
Ultimately I'm Not Buying
While I know some men that could use a back shave, I'm not buying a Bodygroom, as a present or for personal uses. But I'm not the center of the universe. Here for your consumption is the URL - remember the product was featured on Howard Stern, the new uncensored show on Sirius satellite radio (plug).
http://www.shaveeverywhere.com
As April said in the Q1 newsletter, if you want to engage someone, make an engaging offer. Selling a Cadillac for $1 doesn't take a whole lot of advertising.