YOU DON’T NEED TO

READ THIS…unless you launch really great campaigns

LET US CLEAR UP SOME COMMON MISUNDERSTANDINGS

“Viral marketing is free”Your campaign can achieve a lot of volume at no cost, but thatdoesn’t mean it’s free to produce, seed and track it.

“Virals only work for sex and violence”Yes for people who are only looking for sex and violence.

“People spend lots of time on the net, so it’s OK if it’s long andcomplicated”95% move on within 6 seconds if they aren’t entertained.

“The client is king”The customer is king.

“My material will spread by itself”It happens – but not often.

“As a creative genius, I know what works”Prepare to be enlight-ened by online consumers.

“Viral marketing is risky and out of control”In the age of consumer rule, just being a brand is risky. You can work with it or against it, but you can’t escape it.

“Viral marketing is unserious”We suggest calling the people at Skype to get their opinion.

“You can’t plan viral marketing”Have you tried it?

“Nobody can guarantee exposure”A seeding agency should provide a minimum guarantee. If not, don’t launch the campaign.

WW

W.G

OV

IR

AL

.CO

M

2

TO TALK ABOUT

2

GET INSPIRED BY THE LATEST RESEARCH AND CASES

FROM THE WORLD OF VIRAL MARKETING AT OUR SEMINAR

SATURDAY 24TH OF JUNE AT 11:00-11:45

(DEBUSSY)

4

“Viral marketing works…pass it on.”

Bant BreenSENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATIONTHE INTERPUBLIC GROUP OF COMPANIES

5

THE INTERNET IS COMING OF AGE.Broadband penetration is growing rapidly and most people surfthe internet at their work on high-speed connections. They surffor a lot of different things including communications and enter-tainment. The commercially attractive 18- to 35-year-olds spendthe most time online. They pay more attention to interactivechannels and less to traditional top-down monologue channels.This is why viral marketing is increasingly on the media planand on the lips of advertisers. It is a way of communicating withyour audience that really works – using the networked commu-nications platforms people spend their time on today.

But viral marketing can be difficult to work with as it alwaysdepends on the creative material. You can put anything on TV,but a viral campaign needs to be really good to survive and pro-sper. That’s why we’ve created this booklet. It is for creative,media and production agencies that work with their clients toplan and create viral marketing campaigns. We work with peoplelike you around the world everyday and know how important itis that you and your clients understand all the different aspectsof this new medium. We understand the importance of knowing‘how to’ on a very practical level. So we have assembled somepractical information and tools that you can use when creatingand launching fun and innovative viral marketing campaigns.

Keep up the good work.

GoViral

“Push marketing and the old model of interruption ischallenged. New ways of engaging consumers, whetherwith viral marketing or branded entertainment, should be considered key by any forward-thinking marketer.”

NICK BRIENCEOUNIVERSAL MCCANN

7

WHAT IS VIRAL MARKETING? Viral marketing is consumer-driven marketing as opposed to tra-ditional interruption marketing that is controlled and driven bythe marketer. It is a planned initiative where you, as an advertiseror creative agency, develop and spread online marketing messages(viral agents) that have qualities that motivate the receiver to be-come a sender. It’s the marketing discipline of today’s consumer-centric networked marketing landscape. Viral marketing combines know-how, creativity and technical

skills. A viral campaign builds on really excellent creative materialthat involves and engages users. However, equally important is theseeding and tracking of the campaign. With growing media clutter– also in digital channels – the seeding of your viral campaignmaterial will be key to attracting attention. With good creativematerial and proper seeding, a viral campaign can generate mil-lions of clicks and active viewers.

“People were sharing stories andpainting on walls long before theyinvented the wheel. Spreading ideasand gossip is human nature. Viral is hard wired into our DNA.”

Paul Kemp-RobertsonEDITORIAL DIRECTORCONTAGIOUS MAGAZINE

9

VIRAL SPREAD The viral spread of stories is an urge as old as humanity itself. It isby spreading stories that we have built and passed on cultures, tra-ditions, religions and knowledge from generation to generation. Itis not a new phenomenon, but, on the contrary, a very old needimbedded in human psychology to retell good stories.The core of viral marketing is to know the mechanisms that gethuman beings to spread messages and stories and utilise this com-mercially. It is to start conversations. When done properly, thepower of viral spread can be enormous, and if cultivated the rightway in a commercial context, it can really set your campaign on fire.

Viral spread happens everyday, but often not on a large scale whenit comes to commercial messages. Hardly any stories or cam-paigns spread overnight to the whole world. It is simply too diffi-cult to create a commercial message that relevant or entertaining.So, spreading a campaign throughout the entire pyramid is possi-ble, but very seldom a reality. That’s why you need seeding.

MASSIVE VIRAL SPREAD IS A RARE PHENOMENON.

“Consumers are not waiting around to be passively targeted. Intoday's world, markets are conversations and consumers needto be thought of as communication partners. Clever marketersdon’t just talk at consumers, they let them talk together, play,share and have an active role in the communication.”

EDDIE D’SAMANAGING PARTNER FOR NORDICS AND CENTRAL/EASTERN EUROPE

NAKED COMMUNICATIONS

11

SEED YOUR STORY AND LET IT GROWSeeding helps you break through the clutter. It’s the way to kickstart and build initial volume in the viral campaign. Seeding isdone by promoting, placing and endorsing campaign material inthe content section of high-traffic connection points on the inter-net. Seeding is carried out on a combination of commercial andnon-commercial connection points. The best way to build a globalcampaign is through local endorsement – by seeding on local sitesin the local language. When seeding the campaign, you start fur-ther down in the pyramid instead of at the top. Most campaignmaterial spreads only a few viral levels, so seeding helps ensuresubstantial uptake.

SEEDING AT HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF CONNECTION POINTSALLOWS YOU TO START AT THE BOTTOM OF THE VIRAL PYRAMIDAND NOT AT THE TOP.

WHAT IS A CONNECTION POINT?AN ONLINE CONNECTION POINT IS A PLACE WHERE CONTENT ISEXCHANGED BETWEEN PEOPLE OR FROM EDITORS TO THEIRREADERS. IT IS A PLACE ON THE INTERNET WHERE PEOPLE MEET,SHARE, DISCUSS AND ARE ENTERTAINED. THERE ARE MANY CON-NECTION POINTS AND THEY POP UP, GROW AND DIE OUT RAPIDLY.TO WORK OPTIMALLY WITH CONNECTION POINTS, IT’S NECESSARYTO SYSTEMATICALLY SURVEY, IDENTIFY, CATALOGUE AND MEASURETHE QUALITY OF THE THOUSANDS OF POTENTIAL CONNECTIONPOINTS.

WHAT IS A SEEDER?SEEDERS ARE THE PEOPLE WHO SPREAD THE CAMPAIGN MATERIAL.A GOOD SEEDER IS A PERSON WHO CONTINUOUSLY WORKS ONMAINTAINING RELATIONS WITH A LARGER GROUP OF CONNEC-TION POINTS ON THE INTERNET. THE SEEDER INSPIRES ONLINEEDITORS AND INFLUENCERS WHO CONTROL ONLINE CONNEC-TION POINTS. HE OR SHE FEEDS THEM WITH GOOD STORIES,INCLUDING VIRAL CAMPAIGN MATERIAL, AND MAKES SURE THATTHE CAMPAIGN GETS FEATURED IN AS MANY RELEVANT PLACESAS POSSIBLE. A GOOD SEEDER HAS GREAT SOCIAL SKILLS, AND ISWITTY AND PERSUASIVE.

“Brands need to find new waysto reconnect with consumersin a meaningful way. Viral marketing is definitely one way to get back on track.”

MARTIN LINDSTROMAUTHOR AND BRANDING GURU

13

TRACKING TO JUSTIFY AND LEARNTracking the viral campaign enables you to follow, evaluate andbenchmark the campaign material. It’s the eyes of the campaign.And, it’s necessary to have tracking in place to make viral cam-paigns as accountable as every other marketing channel.

The wonderful thing about the internet is that it is so traceable.Where did the campaign go? How many sites picked it up? Youcan track everything about visits, views or interactions, from howmany there were to when and where they took place. You can alsotrack the conversations about your campaign and get qualitativeinsights into how your audience reacted and what they said.

It is a good idea to have a solid tracking platform in place whenlaunching the campaign, and be prepared to hear the truth abouthow the market reacts to your campaign activity.

14

“Every piece of research tells us what we already know: that advocacy –recommendation from a friend – is the most powerful and credible influenceon consumers. Viral marketing is a verylogical extension of this principle, andincreasingly, we're putting it at the coreof our strategic thinking.”

DAMIAN BLACKDENEXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC MARKETING TECHNOLOGIESUNIVERSAL MCCANN

EMEA REGION

CONVERSATIONSIn autumn 2005, Framfab Copenhagen launched a Nike spot

with Ronaldinho. This is what some people said about it:

JOHN: Ronaldinho swears that the scene is real…but Iwould assume it’s fake.

ANDREW: If it’s real, I’m sure the cameraman wouldn’tconveniently back away from the field like he did.

TIM: I have a friend who can do that.

SONNY: The Celtic player Jimmy `Jinky´ Johnsonwas seen doing something very similar in the 1970s.

JOE: You guys obviously underestimate the skills thatthese players have…

Ronaldinho hits the crossbar four times in a row in the Nikespot. Was it real or not? That’s what millions of peoplediscussed in the weeks and months following the launch ofthe spot. How many of last night’s advertising breaks did youdiscuss with your colleagues the following day? None probably. Viral marketing is about starting conversa-tions. Conversations engage people and this leads to evenmore involvement. It was brilliantly done by Nike – involvingmillions of people with a very simple, but universal, questionwe always ask when we see something extraordinary: was itreal?

CREATE CONVERSATIONS.

NIKE

“Many clients are saying ‘I wantsomething that spreads by itself.

I don't want to pay for media. It has to be interesting and entertaining. But it can't be

rude, risky or edgy... Did I mentionthat I need it tomorrow?’

Somehow they figured out that ‘viral’ is the buzzword of

the time. But they totally missed the essential parts... Viral is more risky.

Yet, it can be ever-more rewarding.”

NICKE BERGSTRÖMCO-FOUNDER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR

FARFAR

17

BUT I’M WORRIEDClient: Can you guarantee that our film won’t

appear on sites displaying obscene content?

GoViral: No. We can only provide guarantees for the sites we seed to– not for sites your material might spread to.

Client: Then I don’t think our customer will want to use it.

GoViral: The internet?

Client: Yeah. I mean no, distributing their material.

GoViral: Neither we nor your customer can control where it ends up.

Client: Who does, then?

GoViral: Internet users.

Client: Well you have to be able to control it!!!

GoViral: Yes and no. We can initiate a distribution, but you can’t control it.

Client: So what are you recommending?

GoViral: Work with the rules on the Internet, not against them.

REMARKS

We know very well that it’s hard to let go. We have conversationslike this every day. It’s a typical case of the old media world meeting the new. But we – the hundreds of millions of peoplewho spend more time on the internet than watching TV – wantto be the ones who decide what we see and were and when wesee it.

“I guess we all cancreate ideas thathave viral potential,but delivering theright positive message for thebrand is the hardestpart.”

LARS CORTSENCREATIVE DIRECTORFRAMFAB A/S

19

HOW TO MAKE A VIRAL BOMB?

If you are used to saying “client is king” you are going to learn anew sentence. The client is NOT king. You are NOT king.Customers are king! They decide what is good and what is bad.What they want to talk about and what they find utterly boring.What they want to propagate or not. You can put billions of dollarsinto your campaign, but if the users don’t like it, it’s dead. The coreof a viral bomb is content people will love to talk about.

THE 7 INGREDIENTS OF A VIRAL BOMB

1 \ THE OUTSTANDING STORYAll cultures reach some kind of consensus over what’s good andwhat’s bad. Like a line cutting right through the middle of the cul-ture’s range of values. We don’t want to be too wasteful or stingy.Hyperactive or overly passive. Boring or affected. We’d rather besomewhere between these extremes. That’s how it is with allhuman values, and we call this the axis of consensus. But the axisof consensus is also paradoxical. Despite the fact that we all want tobe there, we also find it utterly boring! Who wants to read a bookabout a good, decent man who lives in the suburbs with his wifeand their two children? Nobody. We want to see movies, read booksand hear stories about people who are outstanding in some way. Weare turned on by taboos, the unusual, the outrageous, the hilarious,the remarkable or when we get to peak into hidden secrets. Thesestories ignite conversations and open our eyes. It is outside the axisof consensus that you find outstanding campaign stories that arefuel for the viral spread.

2 \ STICKINESSThere are some people you always seem to forget. Even if you’veworked at the same office for years, these people are out of mindthe minute they’re out of sight.In contrast, there are people you might only have shared a few fleetingseconds with, but that you’ll remember the rest of your life and think aboutoften. You might call these people ‘stickies’. They stick in your mind like anevergreen hit, and are quite impossible to forget.

When you assess the viral potential of a campaign, you have to askhow well the campaign or story manages to stick in the mind – orwhether it will be forgotten after just a few minutes. >>

1 \ OUTSTANDING STORY

7 \ SEEDING HOOK

5 \ SHAREABILITY 4 \ PORTABILITY

3 \ RELEVANCE

2 \ STICKYNESS

6 \ TIMING / ACTUALITY

20

“Viral Marketing is really coming ofage right now, and clients in particularare waking up to its potential. Withmore marketing dollars pouring onlineand young consumers turning off theTV, viral provides a rich, exciting wayof engaging with audiences. I predictan explosive growth in this type ofactivity over the next three years.”

MATTHEW SMITHCO-FOUNDERTHE VIRAL FACTORY

21

3 \ RELEVANCE“It’s amazing how many women are pregnant now – it’s almostlike there’s a new baby boom on the way,” expecting parents willsay again and again. How can that be? When birth rates through-out the Western world are falling or stagnant at best?The answer lies in ourselves. In the way we perceive the world.Pregnant women see babies and other pregnant women becausethat’s what is relevant to them at the moment. Not so in a year’stime, when perhaps a new home and a pram will be at the top oftheir mind. Relevance involves a combination of message, situa-tion and timing.

4 \ PORTABILITYFor about a year, the very humorous and embarrassing 1970smusic video ‘Apache’ was available on the internet, but did notattract much of an audience. Then one autumn day in 2004,something unusual happened: in just a very few days, the videobegan to appear on countless blogs and websites, spreading likewildfire. It even started turning up on different television pro-grammes around the world. Why the sudden popularity? Whatwas it that brought the wonders of ‘Apache’ to the attention of thewhole world within just a few weeks? What happened was that thevideo became ‘portable’. A blogger had taken the time to compressthe original 40 MB video down to about 2.5 MB. The smaller sizemade the difference between success and fiasco. Technically, theradical compression reduced the quality of the film. But it also ena-ble the clip to be sent quickly from blog to blog, from mailbox tomailbox. Portability is about being free. Free of physical, technicaland human barriers. Free to reach an audience wherever the audi-ence may be.

>>

1 \ OUTSTANDING STORY

7 \ SEEDING HOOK

5 \ SHAREABILITY 4 \ PORTABILITY

3 \ RELEVANCE

2 \ STICKYNESS

6 \ TIMING / ACTUALITY

22

“We’re now in a business where content is currency.

It’s always been king. Now it’sbeing traded. The best possible

thing any brand can do is create content that is of value

– content that is wanted by theconsumer. From that point on,watch it fly. From podcasts to

PSPs, MySpace to mobiles,people want great content and

they’ll take it everywhere.”

MARK CHALMERSCREATIVE DIRECTOR/PARTNER

STRAWBERRYFROGAMSTERDAM

23

5 \ SHAREABILITYPeople spend oceans of time and energy keeping their network offriends and acquaintances together. We share all kinds of thingswith those around us – often without even thinking about it! Justask yourself: What do you eat when you’re alone? And when you’retogether with others? What do you prefer – going to the cinemaalone or with a friend? Most people would probably much rathershare even the smallest experiences with someone else. And theevidence suggests that the sharing is often more important thanthe experience itself. That’s because it helps us maintain our net-work, and cement our relationships. According to sociologistssuch as Alain de Botton, the worst thing that can happen to a per-son is to be without a network. A person can suffer a complete breakdown in just a few days if nobody around wishes to talk withhim.

This notion of sharing stories is a crucial driving force, and viralcampaigns should focus on the value of networks. Shareability - ifthe recipient can use a viral campaign to help cement her network,its potential is nothing short of explosive.

6 \ TIMING/ACTUALITYThere is nothing harder than trying to sell a Christmas tree inJanuary. Some stories are very dependent on the time they are pub-lished. If you’re able to add actuality to the viral campaign materialor the seeding hook, it is possible to create extra momentum. Themanipulated photo of George Bush Sr. fishing with George BushJr. in the flooded streets of New Orleans was published a day ortwo after the catastrophe. Within a few days it had reached mil-lions of mailboxes all over the world. A month or two later it stop-ped circulating – it was no longer current.

7 \ SEEDING HOOKSA seeding hook is the one liner that catches your attention – theunexpected, witty angle to the story. Seeding hooks help the cam-paign material be absorbed into connection points and consum-er’s conversations. A successful seeding hook is essential, andsometimes it can be more important than the campaign materialitself. The same viral agent can have several seeding hooks depen-ding on the context.

1 \ OUTSTANDING STORY

7 \ SEEDING HOOK

5 \ SHAREABILITY 4 \ PORTABILITY

3 \ RELEVANCE

2 \ STICKYNESS

6 \ TIMING / ACTUALITY

“It's really just about sharing great content, isn't

it? There's nothing newunder the sun. Whenever

you read a fantastic book,you wanted all your

friends to read it, just asyou wanted everybody in

the world to love that newsong as much as you did,

so you put it first on themixtape. Viral's the same

thing – just instantaneousand on a global scale."

LARS BASTHOLMEXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR

AKQA, NEW YORK

25

THEY’VE DONE IT

GOODYEAR: SEEDING FIVE COUNTRIES IN SIX DAYS, REACHING FOUR MILLION PEOPLEGoodyear launched a Europe-wide viral campaign in March 2006.Consisting of three viral clips produced by Leagas Delaney,London, the campaign was launched in nine different languageswith active seeding in five selected markets: Germany, France, theUK, Sweden and Denmark. It was seeded on 600 sites in approxi-mately a week using both high-volume entertainment seed routesand targeted car sites and forums. The result: one million trackedviews in the first week and 4.5 million tracked views after twomonths (one million of these were in the UK).

As we write there is no sign of the campaign wearing out. Itdemonstrates the power of viral spread when seeding in severalterritories at the same time. It has appeared on more than 2,000websites and blogs, and can be seen at :

www.3x3m.com/files/goodyear

GOOD

YEAR

“We love viralmarketing – itallows us to docrazy things withour brands thatwe would neverdream of doingwith mainstreammedia.”

JENS JERMIINCOMMUNICATIONS MANAGER COCA-COLA NORDIC

27

VIRAL VIDEOS BEAT VIDEO BANNERSThe media agency Initiative Universal McCann conducted abenchmark test comparing the viral seeding of a video clip tovideo banner advertising. Both channels launched the same content, with the same budget.

THE RESULT: viral seeding drove 14 times more views thanvideo banners.

WHY?People don’t expect anything good from banners. In fact, they usuallysee them as disturbing. This means that, when the content isgood, banner advertising is at the best a mediocre channel.Banners don’t generate the clicks or the involvement that can becreated when the material is set free among users.

The optimal way to activate high-quality campaign material on theinternet is through seeding the campaign material as content onconnection points. Booking banner-ad space is nothing more thanapplying the old-world push-marketing paradigm to a differentmedium – one defined by interaction and pull.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

VIE

WS

VIDEO BANNER VERSUS SEEDING

VIDEO BANNER INDEX 100

SEEDING

28

29

“One of the wonderful things about the new era of marketing is that companies are forced to think more about their consumers than themselves.”

MALTHE SIGGURDSSONCREATIVE DIRECTORSKYPE

“We were working with ‘GoViral’even before ‘viral’ was includedin the vocabulary of the adver-tising business. They are one ofthe pioneers of this ‘new way ofspreading messages’. Theirlocal approach and extremelycreative thinking keeps them atthe top of the list. They are theperfect partners to utilise pre-existing social networks and toproduce exponential increasesin brand awareness.”

CRISTIAN JOFRESVP GLOBAL CREATIVE DIRECTORMTV

VIRAL MEDIA PLANNINGThe process of planning, creating and launching viral marketingcampaigns is similar to other campaign activities. A media agencycreates a strategy, then plans and budgets the campaign. The cam-paign idea is developed by a creative agency, and produced by aproduction agency. Even the seeding phase resembles traditionalmedia placement, even though it is different in nature.

The main difference compared to other campaigns is the qualita-tive element. For the campaign to work, it is imperative to havestrong creative material with the right viral qualities. This forcesthe media agencies to adopt a qualitative focus that is not requiredin other campaign activities, and pressurises the creative and pro-duction agencies to deliver something unique and innovative.

It is a good idea, therefore, to honestly scrutinise and screen thecampaign to ensure that it will actually spread among consumers.Ask yourself: Is this really, really good? Would I send it to any ofmy peers? Is it truly relevant or entertaining for the target group?By not asking these questions, you run the risk of developing cam-paign material that does not have the right quality, and so can’t beseeded – which happens all too often.

STRATEGY CREATIVE PRODUCTION SEEDING TRACKING

EVALUATION / FEEDBACK

SEEDING AGENCY

THE VIRAL VALUE CHAIN

GoViral is a viral seeding agency.We launch (seeds) viral marketing cam-paigns for leading creative agencies,media agencies and advertisers worldwide.Our global Seed&Track™ solution helpsmarketers reach people in 27 countries.In all countries, we seed in local languages,on local sites and with local seeders. Webring marketing materials, such as com-mercials, games, applications and stories,to the places where people meet on theinternet – creating high-volume, targetedand cost-effective viral marketing cam-paigns.

SEED

SPREAD

TRACK

WWW.GOVIRAL.COM

LONDON – COPENHAGEN – STOCKHOLM – HAMBURG

LET´S GIVE THEM SOMETHING