Viral Advertising

1830 Words4 Pages

Viral advertising is a relatively new craze that has quickly become the next big thing in marketing. A word of mouth (WOM) strategy, it forces marketers to create branded videos that consumers like so much that they want to share it with friends. To achieve viral success, an ad must create enough buzz to generate one million views, which is the standard tipping point where a video can go from popular to viral status (Teixeira, 2013).

This task proves difficult not only because it’s centered on the premise of asking consumers to market a brand for free, but also because of the uncertainty that surrounds the entire phenomenon. Marketers have little proof as to why their ad has gone viral, yet another popular brand’s video with nearly identical content proved to be a flop. No, there’s no true recipe for creating the perfect content to go viral, but that has not stopped market researchers and behavioral scientists from trying to figure it out (Teixeira, Wedel, and Pieters, 2012; McNeal, 2012; Berger and Milkman, 2012; Guadagno, Rempala, Murphy, and Okdie, 2013; Yuping, 2012; Dobele, Toleman, and Beverland, 2005; Harvey, Stewart, Ewing 2011).

This rapid enthusiasm in viral video research arose just after social media use skyrocketed across the globe, evidence that the advertising industry has now fully acknowledged the significant value that social media offers to marketers, especially in the case of WOM campaigns (Yuping, 2012, p.471).

So far, studies have been done to figure out the types of content that goes viral, why consumers choose to share one video and not the next, who the consumers are that are sharing these videos, and the implications of viral ads on consumer behavior, knowledge, and attitude. While there is sti...

... middle of paper ...

...ds', Harvard Business Review, 90, 3, pp. 25-27, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 31 October 2013.

Yang, H, Zhou, L, & Liu, H 2012, 'Predicting Young American and Chinese Consumers’ Mobile Viral Attitudes, Intents, and Behavior', Journal Of International Consumer Marketing, 24, 1/2, pp. 24-42, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 19 November 2013.

Youtube.com. 2013. Statistics - YouTube. [online] Available at: http://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html [Accessed: 21 Nov 2013].

YUPING, L 2012, 'Seeding Viral Content: The Role of Message and Network Factors', Journal Of Advertising Research, 52, 4, pp. 465-478, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 November 2013.

Zaichkowsky, J 1985, 'Measuring the Involvement Construct', Journal Of Consumer Research, 12, 3, pp. 341-352, Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost, viewed 17 November 2013.

More about Viral Advertising

Open Document