Marketing stunt or viral success? The “A-Ha” reveals all.
September 26th, 2006 by Lani Voivod
These days, with pings, alerts, RSS feeds, trackbacks, and permalinks, the Universe is set up to deliver to you exactly what you want to learn about - if you have the time to check it out. Today, I stole some time and came across a Mr. David Parmet, PR exec, blogging and podcast expert, and righteous ad dude.
Like any good Internet kingpin, Mr. Parmet contributes to a blog dedicated to interactive advertising. Good stuff, in its own right.
Last week, though, he wrote an article explaining the difference between effective viral marketing and stunts.
GREAT article.
But what was even more exciting for ME is the fact that he aligned successful viral strategies with the all-powerful ’aha’ moment. Check it out:
Good viral campaigns make you stop and look. They sneak up on you. You have an ‘aha’ moment of realization. Stunts make you look, but you quickly forget. Viral campaigns make you wonder who’s behind them. Stunts often have nothing at all to do with the company paying for them.
Smart viral campaigns take advantage of the intimate connection between a brand and the community. It gets ordinary people blabbering like fanboys about their new Mac or their flight on jetBlue. That’s buzz. Buzz is not a marketing program. You can’t buy it or have your agency create it for you. You have to earn it.
Yes! Absolutely. And when folks have “an ‘aha’ moment of realization” after coming into contact with your brand, product, or services, their “A-Ha” moment - the one that follows the insight with some fired-up action - usually involves doing business with you in a meaningful way.
Moral?
People like to feel a jolt of inspiration, a blast understanding, a heightened moment of possibility. Deliver them authentically and often, and you’ll have a fan/client/customer for life.
