:: adgruntie :: Viral ads

+ USA Today talks about viral advertising spreading thorough marketing plans. Yeah, it's a tie-in to the fact that Cyber Lions were up on the Cannes site this morning.

 "People have grown increasingly skeptical of packaged, canned, Madison Avenue-speak," says Russ Klein, Burger King's chief marketing officer.

The company has reversed a long sales decline thanks in part to its increased use of non-traditional marketing, especially viral. It has proved particularly useful in reaching the fast-food chain's core market of young men.

The key to effective viral: Create and execute an idea that's intriguing enough to get consumers to interact. Burger King has used wacky ideas by agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky to promote its chicken sandwiches and salads online.

"Interruption or disruption as the fundamental premise of marketing" no longer works, says Jeff Hicks, chief executive and partner at Crispin Porter + Bogusky. "You have to create content that is interesting, useful or entertaining enough to invite (the consumer). Viral is the ultimate invitation."

Unless it sucks. And quite a few do. One other thing I forgot to mention about the Method "Come Clean" site is that I don't think I'd pass it on to anyone. Besides the fact that I wouldn't go back to the site to see what other things people have put down to "come clean" with, the most vital part of the viral, it's "viral aspect" isn't very strong.

As virals become more common place, two things are going to have to happen. First, they are going to have to be amazing to break through the clutter that is going to happen/happening. And second, there is going to have to be an incremental increase in the amount of new ways to use the web creatively, because if every viral works along the same premise as the Subserviant Chicken, for example, people are going to become bored with it very quickly. It will lose it's power to spread and become a dud. Which means we need programmers to continue to create new and interesting methods of being able to execute great ideas and concepts online. Sure you could just make a film and make it viral, but the more interactivity of the viral, the longer people stay, the better you can hammer in your branding message or communicate your pitch to the consumers.